Darlene Yazzie, a retired community health worker, says hauling water, firewood and trash-and using an outhouse-are just a few of the things that make life hard on the Navajo reservation.
DENNEHOTSO, Ariz.- The nearest water station for Darlene Yazzie is nine miles away from her home at the Dennehotso Chapter House-or community center-in the Four Corners region of Arizona. On a recent day, she counted her nickels and dimes to buy water. It costs $1.10, plus gas money, to fill up two 50-gallon barrels, and she's just learned the price is going up next month.
Yazzie lugged a T-shaped key as tall as she is out to the well, where she dropped it into the hole and turned a crank to open the valve. Water gushed into the plastic barrel.
This is Yazzie's drinking water. For her animals,...
