Monday, August 11, 2025 – Bureaucracy, funding uncertainty delay solutions for clean drinking water

Hopes to fix the Santee Sioux Nation’s lack of clean drinking water faded as federal funding for a pipeline project is increasingly tangled in government turmoil. Tribal citizens are forced to drink bottled water to avoid the high levels of manganese in well water. On the Navajo Nation, dozens of people’s water wells are contaminated with chemicals, like benzene, associated with the oil and gas drilling industry. There are many mysterious, uncapped wells that could be contributing to the problem. They are just two of the problems tribal citizens are having when it comes to accessing the most basic resource. GUESTS Heather Tanana (Diné), initiative lead of the Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities and law professor at the University of Denver Nicole Horseherder (Navajo), executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání Kameron Runnels (Santee Sioux), vice chairman of the Santee Sioux Nation Jerry Redfern, staff reporter for Capital & Main   Break 1 Music: The Four Essential Elements [Diigo Bee’iináanii] (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album) Break 2 Music: The Gift of Life (song) Randy Wood (artist) The Gift of Life (album)