Why has the Navajo nation been deemed to receive a stimulus fund?
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The road from the Navajo community of Sweetwater to Red Mesa is unpaved and rugged but well traveled. Twice a week, about 100 residents on the outskirts of Sweetwater load up 55-gallon drums and drive 12 miles so that they can have clean drinking water for themselves and their livestock. Other water sources closer to home exceed standards for arsenic. “They say water is life, and that’s true,” said Sarah Lee, administrator of the Navajo Nation’s Sweetwater Chapter. “It’s hard when it’s really not accessible right here at your fingertips, having water in your home.” Federal stimulus spending announced this week may end the long trek for water in Sweetwater and dozens of tribal communities across the nation. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said Thursday that $90 million in funding will help eliminate unsafe water sources, build infrastructure, and create jobs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Nearly 10 percent of homes in tri
