What Next - The Navajo Fight for Water
Slate Daily Feed
Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 May 2023
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a case that will determine whether or not the government is obligated to ensure water access for Native American tribes. The arguments in the case, Arizona v. Navajo Nation, hinge upon whether or not the government has violated past treaties with the tribe by not providing adequate water.
Guest: Heather Tanana, assistant professor of law at the University of Utah and citizen of the Navajo Nation.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Heather Tanana wants you to think about water. |
| 0:11.0 | If you stopped right now and looked around you, everything around you needed water to be |
| 0:16.1 | produced. |
| 0:17.1 | You know, you're most likely drinking something, doesn't even have to be water. |
| 0:20.1 | You know, maybe it's tonight. |
| 0:21.1 | I'm a glass of wine, right? |
| 0:22.8 | That uses water. |
| 0:25.2 | Everything. |
| 0:26.2 | The paint on your walls uses water. |
| 0:29.0 | The average American uses roughly 100 gallons of water a day, and barely thinks about |
| 0:34.6 | it. |
| 0:35.6 | But in the Navajo Nation, it's a lot less. |
| 0:38.6 | You look at residents on Navajo Nation, you know, the average water hauler is using |
| 0:44.6 | about 7 to 8 gallons of water a day. |
| 0:47.9 | Some families are really rationing it down to 2 to 3 gallons a day even. |
| 0:54.9 | Heather is a law professor at the University of Utah. |
| 0:58.4 | She grew up in the nation. |
| 1:00.4 | And when she says water hauler, she means someone literally hauling water from a public |
| 1:06.6 | source to their home. |
| 1:09.4 | You're having to carry these gallon containers with you and fill up whatever you need for |
| 1:15.9 | the week and take it back with you. |
| 1:17.9 | You know, this often requires a truck because these barrels are really large. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Slate and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.