The chapter’s water comes from Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River, through an indirect arrangement with Page, a town developed after the damming of the Colorado. Instead, they rely on their truck to fill their 750-gallon water tank. It would cost $10,000 for the family to hook up to the water pipeline that serves most residents of the chapter. Few outsiders realize, however, that Navajo families still live in this desolate valley with no running water, mirroring the challenges elsewhere on the reservation. Thousands flock to the spot each year to see the sweeping views featured in Ford’s iconic movies. A tourist pauses for a photo op at John Ford Point in Monument Valley Tribal Park on the Navajo Nation. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote an impassioned dissent. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the federal government was not obligated to help the Navajo meet their water needs. “Navajos have always rationed water use and intake due to scarcity,” said Reese Cuddy, a research associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health in Fort Defiance, Arizona.Ĭlimate change has made life harder on the reservation, with little access to clean drinking water for the once predominantly pastoral people.

They travel long distances to haul water for personal use and to feed livestock. Many are accustomed to using just a fraction of the water other Americans consume - as little as two to seven gallons a day compared to 80 to 100 gallons for the average U.S. Across the Navajo Nation, 170,000 or so residents are struggling with the worst ongoing drought in a century.

Horseshoe bend water tour