Navajo times., 1962-09-19
of waste and Water

In'this land of little water, one will deny the
importance OF every precious drop The thirty wear
battle for the Navajo Irrigation project should ade
quatey attest to the need the desire of the PEOPLE
for water Life follows the flow of water in this arid
land' and waste OF water is loss to everyone
There are some who do not consider this, or ap
parently, do not feel it is important and who bv
their actions, costing the Tribe many thousands
OF dollars annually The irrigation system on the re-
servatlon was removed from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs jurisdiction to become the ibiitv of
tne Tribe by an act of Congress passed in July of
1850 This means that the expense of operation and
maintenance comes from the Tribal treasury and
much unnecessary expense is being caused bv people
dumplng their trash in the irrigation bitches which
the Tribe must clean
Provisions are made in the overall Plan of Oper-
alton OF the Irrigation Department for the cleaning of
these vital canals each year. with the thol1ght
that capacity may be increased by close and accurate
cleaning, with some prevention of water loss How
mucn more then does it cost to employ the men and
machinery necessary to clean garbage out of the irr
CATION canals At the present time, men and eouip-
ment are working a drainage ditch just south of
Shlprock, doubling the normal operation costs in
wages anduse OF machinery to remove waste matter
inns is not the only cost involved Cleaning the
canals is big job, and lending one with the
available men and equipment unable be everywhere
atonce. Sphons get jammedwth waste, and the water
backs up and overflows. How many precious gallons
could be lost in just few hours in such cases. And
it probably would be more than few hours in most
cases, because the reservation is vast and the
are lew. IL WOuId require fantastic number of men
TO check all the bitches daily, even if they had nothing
else to do, which they certainly have These men not
only look after your water, they offer help in rriga
t1on and agricultural problems
Ihere are other considerations involved as we'll
This water is frequently used for drinking and wash
ing purposes. Polluted water is not healthfu for Ell
ther purpose. In addition, it promotes the breeding
OF flies, insects and rodents There are far better
ways OF disposing of garbage and rash and the Pub
TIC Health Service is than happy to supply any
information you might need as to how best accomp-
lish it.
this were an infrequent thing, or localized
tnlng In just one small area, perhaps it would be
small thing. Unfortunately however, it is neither
1t is common over the entire reservation In the
Pump and Pump projects located in the Hog
oack Project east of Shiprock, the drainage bitches
are shallow and small. The large equipment cannot
be used in cleaning them, and this means that MANY
hours must be devoted to the unpleasant and totally
unnecessary task of painstakngly removing the trash
by hand.
The next time you have load of trash to dispose
of stop for moment and consider Maybe it is
handy to simply dump it in the ditch" but it axes
money from the pocket of the Tribe, and that means
is costing you The dollars spent this cleaning
could well be devoted to other, productive en-
terpriSe.