The Wider Image: Climate change is drying the lifeblood of Navajo ranchers as their lands become desert...
A dry wind blows dust across the high-desert plateau, smoke from wildfires in Arizona and California shrouding the nearby rim of the Grand Canyon. The summer monsoon rains have failed again, and stock ponds meant to collect rainwater for the hot summer months are dry. With no ground water for her animals, Sloan, 59, fills an animal trough with water from a 1,200-gallon white plastic tank. She and her husband, Leonard, have to pay up to $300 to have the tank filled as her pickup truck has broken down. When it's working, she hauls water herself every two days, spending $80 a week on fuel. The cost of hauling water has made their ranch unprofitable. The Navajo Nation ? covering a 27,000 square mile area straddling the U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah competes with growing cities including Phoenix and Los Angeles for its water supply. And as climate change dries out the U.S. West, that supply is becoming increasingly precarious. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY SEARCH "NAVAJO KEITH" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES Matching Text: CLIMATE-CHANGE/USA-NAVAJO
