"In Crow Country, A Water System Brings New Life"

"CROW RESERVATION, Mont.— Alisara Knaub saw firsthand how contaminated water can upend your life.

'My daughter is three, her first year she couldn’t gain weight,' says Knaub, a greenhouse assistant at Little Big Horn College. 'The doctor said our water was the main reason.'

Knaub, who lives near the town of Lodge Grass on the reservation, couldn’t recall the exact bacteria in her water but she knows it’s there: she doesn’t wash dishes with her well water. Guests who drink it get sick.

Bacteria such as E. coli can cause diarrhea and vomiting. Half of the people on the reservation are on well water. 'People fear turning on their taps,' Knaub says."

Brian Bienkowski reports for Environmental Health News as part of the Sacred Water series August 23, 2016.

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"Culture And Science Merge In Environmental Research For Crow" (EHN)