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2 Geo. J. L. & Mod. Critical Race Persp. 83 (2010)
The Third World in the American Southwest: The Navajo Nation's Water Crisis and the Failures of Water Law

handle is hein.journals/gjmodco2 and id is 93 raw text is: The Third World in the American Southwest:
The Navajo Nation's Water Crisis and the
Failures of Water Law
SEAN D. LyrILE*
INTRODUCTION
When I was a kid in geography class, I was taught that water always flows down-
hill... What I've learned since is that water flows to money and power, wherever
they may be. 1
The Navajo Nation is the largest Indian2 reservation in North America, at over
27,000 square miles, occupying a territory in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah that is
larger than ten of the fifty states.3 At the close of the Civil War, its population was less
than 8,000, but the Navajo Nation today boasts a population of over a quarter-
million tribal members, inhabiting a reservation roughly the size of West Virginia.4
Unfortunately, for nearly 80,000 residents of the Navajo Nation, running water is
entirely unavailable.5 This longstanding crisis has wormed its way into the routines
of life on the nation's largest Indian reservation, leaving approximately one-third of
residents without a basic service that has been readily available in virtually every other
part of the country for decades.6 As many as 80%          of residents in some Navajo
communities are forced to haul potable water from faraway sources; [e]asing the
crisis will require decades of work, billions of dollars and the patience to cut through
the politics of Western water.7
Life on the Navajo reservation can be difficult. The climate is dry and hot, the
unemployment rate regularly exceeds 26%, and per capita income averages just
* © 2010, Sean D. Lytde. Sean D. Lyttle, a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame Law School, is a litigation
associate at the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The author
expresses special thanks to his wife, Erinna, for her patience, and to Professor Rick Garnett of Notre Dame
Law School for his supervision of the work for this article.
1. Navajo Tribal Chairman Peterson Zah, describing his tribe's efforts to ensure its water supply. Preface to
LLOYD BURTON, AMERICAN INDIAN WATER RIGHTS AND THE LIMITS OF THE LAW, at ix (Univ. Press of
Kansas 1991).
2. The terms Indian, American Indian, indigenous American, and Native American are used
interchangeably throughout this article in reference to members of federally recognized Native American
tribes within the contiguous forty-eight states. While the result of an initial geographical mistake by European
explorers, the term Indian is still very much a part of the subject of this article. The leading texts still speak of
Indian Law, and the central federal agency involved in this issue is the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Further-
more, I have found that indigenous Americans generally prefer the term Indian, and view Native Ameri-
can as too closely associated with outdated, negative stereotypes.
3. Navajo Nation, History Page (2005), http://www.navajo.org/history.htm (last visited Apr. 17,2010).
4. Seegenerally Navajo Nation, supra note 3.
5. Shaun McKinnon, Navajo Nation Endures Water Crisis, ARIZ. REPUBLIC, Aug. 26, 2007.
6. Id.
7. Id.

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