Dakota Access Pipeline, the Ogallala Aquifer, and Indigenous Water Rights
Last edited Sat Oct 29, 2016, 09:44 AM - Edit history (1)
A few words about the Ogallala Aquifer, threatened by the Dakota Access Pipeline:
"It provides nearly 33 percent of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States and more than 80 percent of the drinking water for the approximately 1 million inhabitants of the region. Unfortunately, the Ogallala Aquifer--like many aquifers--is living on borrowed time. It is being depleted by several percent per decade, with the total depletion to date exceeding the annual flow of eighteen Colorado Rivers. Some estimates have it being completely depleted by 2028." --Michael Mann, "The Madhouse Effect"
The Dakota Access Pipeline would also cross the Missouri River. The Standing Rock Sioux have treaty rights to clean water from the Missouri, as established in the 1908 Supreme Court case Winters v. United States.
"...The Court held that when an Indian reservation is established, water rights accompany creation of the Indian homeland; water rights are reserved for the tribe...Indian reservations in North Dakota were created in the 1800's. Thus, water rights reserved to North Dakota tribes pre-date and are superior to water rights held under state law..." -- Charles Carvell, "Indian Reserves Water Rights: Impending Conflict or Coming Rapprochement Between the State of North Dakota and North Dakota Indian Tribes.
When the mainstream media describes what's happening at Standing Rock as protesters being forced off private property, they are not telling the whole story. They're framing it in a way which emphasizes corporate property rights while rendering invisible the rights of the indigenous people.
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