By Alysa Landry The Daily Times

SHIPROCK — The Navajo Nation is a long way from the set of "Dancing with the Stars."

That didn't stop actress Jane Seymour, who danced on the reality show's fifth season last year, from donning her jeans and boots Monday and trekking across the desert near the Shiprock pinnacle.

Seymour is the narrator for a documentary on the water crisis in the Southwest set to air on public television this fall.

"The water problem in the American Southwest is real, and it needs to be told," Seymour said on camera, with the famous rock in the background. "In today's modern world, water has been taken for granted, and we've lost respect for it."

The documentary, "The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?" explores the drought conditions in the Southwest and the subsequent economic toll.

Water taps on the Navajo Nation have run dry for decades, and residents of the country's largest American Indian reservation are no strangers to the water shortage.

As many as 40 percent of Nation residents live without running water, said
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Lena Fowler, vice chair of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission.

"Our water need is basic," she said. "We need it for drinking and bathing, and sometimes we have to travel 30 miles to get it."

Navajo people living in remote areas on the reservation pay more for water than anyone else, Fowler said. Residents in remote areas pay for the gasoline needed to transport water and chlorine drops or other methods of treating the water before it is safe to drink.

Water shortages and contaminated water also lead to an increase in disease, Fowler said, but a lack of running water and other infrastructure on the reservation means schools and medical clinics aren't built where they are needed.

"It's not just the Third World that has water needs," she said. "Here on the Navajo Nation, we are not meeting our basic needs."

Seymour called the water shortage a severe crisis that affects much of the Southwest and stretches across the globe, causing much of the world's warfare.

"It's inconceivable to me that we can live in this huge area called the United States of America but amongst us are people who don't have water to drink," she said. "We need to find a responsible way to share the water."

Seymour is calling on the American public to help solve the water crisis. She appears in the documentary to help start conversations among citizens, policy makers and water experts.

Producer Jim Thebaut filmed in locations across the Southwest, including the Navajo and Hopi reservations. The project also took him to Capitol Hill for interviews with members of Congress.

The project is the second for Thebaut and Seymour, who teamed up in 2005 to film "Running Dry," a documentary about the global water crisis.

"It's all part of an overall project," Thebaut said. "It's about the effect of global climate change, population growth and lack of water throughout the world."

Thebaut's local shots included footage of Seymour sitting with a group of students at Mesa Elementary School. The school selected 22 students scoring the highest in reading to participate in the film.

"I wanted children in this," Thebaut said. "Really, the whole spirit of this is kids. We need to protect and plan for our future."

The students, who studied the water crisis prior to Seymour's visit, crowded around the actress on the playground.

"The Jane Seymour the kids relate to is her role in Wedding Crashers,'" Mesa principal Pandora Mike said. "It was exciting that she was able to talk about a very serious matter in an educational setting."
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