I would guess that people in the desert without running water have a tank that gets filled by a truck. But I don't know either.
I read something about how the data centers of Arizona are going to battle the alfalfa farmers for scarce water. And how both are going to battle the growing golf courses and suburbs of Phoenix. Which, you know, seems like a fight where I don't have to care much who wins.
Traditionally Navajos have lived in a very dispersed settlement pattern of small compounds scattered across the landscape. It's very difficult and expensive to pipe water to places like that. There's been some movement in recent decades into larger communities on and off the reservation, which do have piped water, but many people still live in the scattered pattern and don't have running water. Some have wells but many haul water from wherever the nearest source is.
That's an expensive way to grow alfalfa.
They do that too but they do pipe the water for it.
It's not good alfalfa without irrigation by Evian.
I have no alfalfa but a share of one well.
People use to say that alfalfa smelled like pot. Rock means no one I grew up near ever smelled pot that wasn't basically ditch weed.
That's an expensive way to grow alfalfa.
Let alone a golf course.
It is good (I think) to see Gorsuch dissenting on that Supreme Court decision -- I think of him as the justice who often has the best sense of the practical issues involved in cases brought by tribes.
As a side note, I know a few people locally who participated in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Boldt decision: https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/03/boldt-decision-50th-anniversary/
The Charley/Megan combined batsignal!
2: And even more so the fabs.
I wonder what manner of beast Gorsuch is.
Yes. My in-laws live near a massive new chip plant being built outside of Phoenix.
Great. You can sell the water in your basement.
Interesting that the case was brought by Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada, but *not* New Mexico.
It's a good idea to get a compact done before the Supreme Court overrules Winters v. United States.
I wonder whether the Navajo Nation and other southwestern folks are going for off-reservation instream flows, like CSKT did here. It's a big deal. Also, the white supremacists hate it, almost as much as they hate mixed tribal authority over on-reservation fee-land water rights. (I'm glad I declined invitations to represent people wanting to challenge the CSKT compact, but I'm pretty curious about how that stuff is playing out behind the curtain.)
(I spent the day writing a brief for a Water Court case. It's about water from Indian Creek, but just a dispute between ranchers, and a golf course developer. )
17: Nor Utah. The article at thr 1st link says that the Navajos already settled water rights with thosr states.
Chris Arnade just walked through Phoenix, describes a fentanyl hellscape like the worst bits of W Philly or Baltimore. No public anything including places to pee because addicts destroy it.
https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-phoenix
As long as there are no Eagles fans.
I'm going there in April so that's a really useful guide of which bits to completely avoid and never go anywhere near, which I understand to be what the locals do authentically.
Tucson is nicer. Just go there. But not in April because it's too hot. Go sooner.
Poor Phoenix. That whole city is one big externality that no one priced in properly.
I've lived here almost twenty years and have found a lot to like, but I understand why folks find it such an irresistible punching bag. Growing up outside Cleveland was good preparation.
25: I cannot believe there is even one person in America who can deliver this line with a straight face:
"Sanctions and export controls help ensure that American weapons are not used internationally to destabilize other sovereign nations," said Gary Restaino, U.S. attorney for Arizona.
27: I mean, I live in the Bay Area, so I understand what it's like to love a place that gets used as a national punching bag because parts of it have gone to pot. When I was growing up in Tucson we'd go to Phoenix for concerts, or to find records that weren't available in smaller stores, or for the airport, but we never found much to draw us in otherwise. I don't know much about what's been done more recently around downtown or elsewhere.
I've never been to Phoenix and probably never will, but that's not going to stop me from insulting it.
I've been to Tucson once and San Francisco once, so I'm obviously an expert on those.
Kate Middleton is probably in Tucson right now because it's very nice there in the winter.
I understand why they're building some chip fabs in the US but how did they choose a place where water supply was already an issue? The ghost of Motorola?
A dry climate is actually really useful for semiconductor manufacture because it's easier to create a vacuum environment. Intel's had a large presence in Arizona and New Mexico for a while, which in turn leads to an emphasis in that kind of engineering at the local schools, etc.
Business-friendly state with significantly more permissive environmental regulations than the west coast, but with a mature ecosystem of industry-specific vendors and workers due to Intel's massive footprint. No hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, or wildfires to mitigate. Excellent shipping and transportation infrastructure, including fast access to CA ports.
I'm amused that the answer is "but it's a dry heat."
There's a fruit basket for new people, can't find it though...
I think Tarrou has been around? Occasional commenter.
Thanks for the link in 21. I hesitate to describe that guy as my new favorite writer based on two blog posts, but only because I don't know anything else about him (I'm avoiding his Wikipedia page until I finish this) and even if I did probably wouldn't do anything about it. That being said, I appreciate that he ranked DC as America's second most walkable city, if only because it confirms my prejudices.
Come on, Cytus, you know you want to dive in and read all about him and gather received opinions to overwrite your own naive first impressions... you know you do... give innnn to the dark side...
Been a lurker and occasional commenter here longer than I've lived in Phoenix!
Just this afternoon, our team was asked to put together a proposal for supplying running water to residences within the Navajo Nation. We have worked with them before when their river turned yellow, and when they asked us to build a notification system that their people can subscribe to to get messages telling them which fresh water pick-up locations were open at what times each day. And we supplied a real-time map to let them know where fresh water was available. The RFP is to suss out all the particulars (just generally): Assess the true number how many households are without running water (as Heebie pointed out, the few estimates I've seen from different entities are off from each other by an order of magnitude or worse); Fulfilling the requirement for all regulations, risk assessments, environmental impact studies, etc.; And plan out the process for putting in the infrastructure and live tracking the execution. It'll take years, but the important thing is always to be moving in a direction of progress. And that appears to be happening (for now) in this case.
Since this is the legal thread - my son signed up for an Ancestry.com "Free Trial" because he wanted to look something up, not really understanding that he was going to get charged if he didn't cancel before the period ran out. So they charged him $30 a month for 2 months, and then a $25 cancellation fee. He is in high school and $85 is quite a lot for him.
But I am wondering, as a minor, doesn't he have some level of protection from predatory internet marketing practices such as this? Like, something-something about entering into a contract with someone under 18?
Or, more broadly, is there any realistic way he can get his money back?
I think he can just go to Utah, shoplift $85 worth of stuff, and call it even.
Heck, he doesn't need to go to Utah for that.
I just figured he should steal it back from a Mormon.
This isn't a very good movie, but I think that old Liam Neeson is a good Marlowe.
The guy from Josie and the Pussycats.
The guy from the first Harry Potter.