"Brush covers a small cement trough, as a creek trickles nearby. The Spokane Tribe of Indians used to drink and bathe in this water during the powwow season. But now, leaves fill the moss-covered trough. It hasn’t been used in years, since a low-tech sewer system was built upstream.

Chamisa Radford remembers playing in the trough as a child. But she says she wouldn’t dare touch the water now.

“We’re destroying our environment, and with that goes the culture and tradition,” says Chamisa Radford, the tribe’s planning and economic development director.

The Spokane Tribe of Indians recently received a $1.5 million HUDSustainable Housing and Communities grant to help improve housing, transportation and economic activity in the reservation. But it turned out to be quite a fixer-upper."

Get the Story:
Tribe Works To Restore Basic Water Needs (Oregon Public Broadcasting 4/4)