Original article can be found at 听
Originally published on May 28, 2016 By Michel Martin听
As part of the , Michel Martin traveled to Fort Collins, Colo. to host a live storytelling event about owning water and dealing with a future where water may be scarce. The conversation tackled the water issues in the Western United States while also highlighting the water crisis in Flint, Mich. and the plight of Native American communities.听
The event featured panelists including author Paolo Bacigalupi, rancher Kathleen Curry, Tribal energy and economic consultant Roger Fragua, Colorado state historian Patty Limerick and clean water activist Melissa Mays. The event also featured performances by the Seven Falls Indian Hoop Dancers and poet Lori Howe.听
You can watch the full event .听
Interview Highlights:听
Limerick on where the West stands now with its water resources听
What used to work pretty darn well was to do studies of water. Precipitation patterns, chart goes out and look at what鈥檚 likely in the future. Now there鈥檚 no such probability, there鈥檚 no such new way of appraising where we are and predicting it. So, it鈥檚 unsettling and it鈥檚 uncomfortable and it is a spectacular chance to think and to listen and to pay attention to each other. And to look at our habits and our customs and to say, are those necessary? Are those the way we have to be? Do we have more choice?听
Bacigalupi on how growing up in the west affected the way he understands water scarcity听
I also come from the western slope and so I grew up seeing where my water comes from. I can see the mountains, I can see how much snow is on them. I see that water flow through the Fire Mountain Canal where my family has a few shares that then water our properties. You can see what you grow depending on this very specific set of water systems. You also see that during a drought year and you know there鈥檚 going to be a call on the river. What happens is, there鈥檚 still water in the river, but you can鈥檛 touch it. You have to watch it flow down to someone else who owns a more senior right than you do and we have very junior rights. The way that water gets allocated is that the senior rights gets all of theirs and the junior rights gets none of theirs in a drought situation, in a scarcity situation. So, you grow up seeing that. You鈥檙e aware of it. The idea that past data would not necessarily predict what our future experience would be for me as a writer was really, really rich because there鈥檚 so many question marks out there.听
Curry on current conflicts about water in the Colorado听
We are reallocating a finite resource and I think that drives the tension. The number one issue from my point of view would be that there鈥檚 not enough water to go around to meet all of the needs. We hold senior rights on our creek and if we aren鈥檛 getting the amount of water that we鈥檙e entitled to, we will call out the upper users and they will have to watch it go by. It鈥檚 a matter of financial welfare for our family, so it鈥檚 a simple equation: if we can鈥檛 divert enough water to produce enough hay, we can鈥檛 feed our cattle, we don鈥檛 make as much money, we don鈥檛 pay the bills. So what you see happening in a lot of Colorado is this desire to use water for other purposes that really don鈥檛 involve raising food.听
Mays on her experience living in Flint during the water crisis We started breaking out in rashes, my hair started falling out in handfuls, my sons started losing their hair. We started having weird, odd side effects, breathing issues. Our county health department didn鈥檛 tell us, our state didn鈥檛 tell us, nobody warned the doctors. So, all these people are getting sick, nobody can understand why we鈥檙e so weak. Why do we have all these muscle pains? Why can鈥檛 I feel my bones? What鈥檚 going on? They downplayed everything until January of 2009. I鈥檓 standing there in my living room holding a letter from the city that says 鈥渂y the way, for the past nine months, your water has been contaminated with a cancer-causing byproduct.鈥� As we fought and fought, we forced them to admit that there鈥檚 a problem. We forced them to switch our water sources back. This has been citizen driven. That鈥檚 the only reason anybody knows anything about Flint is because the residents are like 鈥渢hat鈥檚 enough.鈥� Water is a human right.听
Fragua on American Indians ignored during crisis听
We were Flint long before Flint. No disrespect to the hundred thousand people in Flint. There鈥檚 nobody more impoverished than the Indian community. There鈥檚 nobody more deserving than the Indian community. There鈥檚 nobody that has more senior water rights than the Indian community. Our plight is not in the news. We don鈥檛 make the front page of Newsweek and the New York Times. Flint lives matter. Indian lives matter, but we鈥檝e been at it for a few hundred years. This isn鈥檛 like the last decade drinking contaminated water. So, we鈥檝e been at this for a very long time. We鈥檝e had experience of being the ignored, the polluted, the poisoned and yet nobody鈥檚 listening. How do we get our story out there?听