A lawyer for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said 14,000 people on the reservation are at risk of losing their water due to a major shortage on the Missouri River.

Attorney Rebecca Kidder said many of the people that would be affected are poor. If they lose water, they might turn to untreated sources, heightening the health risk, she said.

The tribe has said it will run out of water by August unless steps are taken to address low water levels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has pledged to help but some say the government's management policies are inadequate.

"The Corps says the lingering drought might mean curtailing the navigation season by two months, sometime in mid-summer," The Rapid City Journal says in an editorial. "By which time, residents of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation could be left high and dry."

Get the Story:
Reservoir management faulted (AP 4/14)
Editorial: Corps puts people last (The Rapid City Journal 4/14)

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