Water poverty

We’re home from a quick trip out West - did the National Parks in Arizona and Utah. Arches was one of my favs, the Canyonlands were spectacular and of course, the Grand Canyon is awe-inspiring. But I couldn’t help but be concerned by the level of the Colorado and San Juan rivers. Like - this is a river? Really? I live on the James River, and even at its lowest, you know it’s a river.

Monument Valley brought home to me how precious water is. The sand is a formidable force, red and all-pervasive. The hotel asked us to limit showers to 2 minutes. Even that seemed wasteful. The scarcity of water is echoed in the poverty of those trying to live there. Nowhere in America should there exist such third-world conditions. I felt ashamed to be taking up precious resources with my stay in a hotel on the Navajo reservation.

This problem must find its solution. Instead of inventing Space X or Google or PayPal, why can’t the creative brains in our nation focus on a project that will save a people and their land?