No Safe Drinking Water On Reservation Leaves Thousands Improvising
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Central Oregon has gone without safe drinking water all summer. Actually, some people don't have any running water. In May, a burst pipe led to a cascade of infrastructure failures. As Oregon Public Broadcasting's Emily Cureton reports, this has left thousands of people scrambling.
EMILY CURETON, BYLINE: Blue jugs teeter on a fork lift at the Warm Springs Reservation two hours southeast of Portland. Behind the wheel is a teenager in a cowboy hat.
(SOUNDBITE OF FORKLIFT OPERATING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Woah.
CURETON: A bump in the gravel driveway nearly tips his load of plastic bottles.
(SOUNDBITE OF FORKLIFT MANEUVERING)
DOROTHEA THURBY: Yeah, so he got taught how to drive the forklift approximately three months ago (laughter).
CURETON: Dorothea Thurby is supervising the young volunteers, mostly high schoolers. They've gotten a crash course in emergency management - organizing bottled water, lifting heavy supplies and cleaning mobile showers.
THURBY: I'll go back to being a teacher hopefully after this is done.
CURETON: But Thurby's preschool shut down when the water system failed. She was furloughed. Her summer has revolved around an ad hoc water distribution center. It runs on donations.
THURBY: So I'm kind of in my own mind thinking, like, what if we don't have enough? Say we run out, what are we going to do?
CURETON: The Indian Health Service has found that nationwide, native homes are nine times more likely to lack access to safe water. But in this case, federal agencies have been slow to commit money for a long-term fix. Oregon has earmarked about $8 million in bonds, but those will take years to pay out. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to fine the tribe nearly $60,000 a day if it doesn't make repairs by October.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So you just want ice...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: ...A bag of ice? You don't have to sign it out.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: OK.
CURETON: The failed water system serves more than 1,300 homes, a daycare, two schools, a home for seniors and a medical clinic. Danny Martinez, the emergency manager for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, runs the water distribution center.
DANNY MARTINEZ: We give out about 3,000 to 3,500 gallons of water every day.
CURETON: Martinez says donations of supplies like paper plates, bleach wipes and waterless toilets poured in from all over the Pacific Northwest at first.
MARTINEZ: But, you know, they're all hoping that it's resolved today. And so when I call them back, they're kind of puzzled by it. After 30 days, you mean you still don't have water, Dan?
CURETON: Now the boil water notices are into a third month. The system has been on the brink for years. Every burst pipe is a contamination risk to the whole system. The list of worries goes on. Firefighters can't count on hydrants.
MARTINEZ: The sprinkler system, the cooling systems, the air conditioning systems, the restrooms, the toilets, everything is affected by lack of water.
CURETON: Martinez joins two teenage volunteers who are taking a break from hauling jugs around to chase a butterfly.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: (Laughter).
CURETON: Fifteen-year-old Cajun-Rain Scott says butterflies are a good sign.
CAJUN-RAIN SCOTT: Butterflies keep on coming around me. That's good. That's good. You know what that means? That means change.
CURETON: What would you normally be doing with your summer, Cajun-Rain?
SCOTT: Having fun with my friends and skateboarding, but I can't do that now because I'm helping the community. And that's more important than skateboarding, so I'd rather be doing this.
CURETON: Tribal and federal officials say repairs underway now could potentially restore drinking water by the end of the month. But that deadline has already been extended several times. For NPR News, I'm Emily Cureton in Warm Springs, Ore.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIGNAL HILL'S "MICROBE")
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