165 years ago Mark Twain coined the phrase: Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting over. So it was for the Pima Indians in the Phoenix valley in Arizona.
They had built a very intricate but functioning set of canals, unequaled in the Southwest America. Around the Salt River and the Gila river.
Then the white men came and took the water rights. Let Johnny Cash tell about one of the Pima Indians in the form of a ballad:
It was soo good. Listen to it again without the distraction of all the text and let it sink in.
Yes, the land is just as dry, even drier as Maricopa County was the fastest growing county in U.S. in the last decade. Even the aquifers are starting to run dry. And Lake Mead can no longer supply enough water for the Central Arizona Project aqueduct. More than anything the Indians need to have their water rights restored, so they can again be a functional society. These are the reparations they need.
To this end may I propose: The TransContinental Aqueduct. A realistic way to save Lake Mead and reverse the desertification of the American SouthWest.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 