Tagged: water

The Hopi Tribe is seeking $20 million from the federal government to clean up arsenic in drinking water.

In the Hopi communities of First and Second Mesa, naturally occurring arsenic levels in drinking water exceed federal limits by as much as  four times.

Arsenic has been linked to cancers and circulatory problems.

Hopi water director Lionel Puhuyesva says  the tribe decided to sue the government, rather than ask Congress for money.

A coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation may be forced to increase water rates to afford required federal pollution controls.

Initially the utility that runs the Navajo Generating Station thought it might have to shut down. But a new Interior Department study says it has another option. The Generating Station could remain open if it raises water rates for agricultural users and tribes by up to 16 percent.

Larry Stevens is an evolutionary biologist. For the last 41 years, he’s dedicated much of his life to the study and salvation of springs, little spots where water bubbles out of the earth.

Stevens stands in huge alcove carved out of a sandstone cliff on a remoter trail in Grand Canyon National Park. He holds a measuring cup under a stream of water that drips from a cluster of bright green ferns.

“Dripping Springs is a fairly small spring,” Stevens says. “We’re looking at half a gallon a minute of flow.”