A water rights settlement between three Native American tribes that is more expensive than any treaty enacted by Congress took a major step forward late Monday when it was submitted to the Navajo Tribal Council.
The Navajo Nation has one of the largest unresolved claims in the Colorado River Basin, and a special legislative session is expected to vote on the bill soon. This is the first of many approvals needed for the deal to be finalized, which will ultimately go all the way to Congress.
Climate change, the coronavirus pandemic and demands for rivers like the ones that have allowed Phoenix, Las Vegas and other desert cities to thrive have driven tribes to negotiate settlements. The Southern Paiute tribes of the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan tribes want to quickly conclude a deal under a Democratic administration in Arizona with Joe Biden as president.
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A landmark 1922 treaty divided the waters of the Colorado River Basin among seven western states, but excluded tribes. Tribes seek water from a variety of sources, including the Colorado River, the Little Colorado River, aquifers, and washes on tribal lands in northeastern Arizona.
Nearly one-third of homes on the Navajo Nation, which spans 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, do not have running water. Many homes on Hopi Island are also located in similar locations.
The Southern Paiute Nation of San Juan plans to vote on the settlement in the coming weeks, Tribal Chairman Robin Preston Jr. said in an email. The tribe is asking Congress to approve a treaty it signed with the Navajo Nation in 2000 to guarantee water delivery and establish an 8.4-square-mile reservation within the Navajo reservation.
A windmill draws water for livestock in Loop, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, March 9, 2024. A proposed water rights settlement between three Native American tribes took a big step forward in the final stages, with a higher price tag than any such agreement enacted by Congress. It will be introduced at the Navajo Nation Council on May 13. (AP Photo/Felicia Fonseca)
“It will provide our people with economic opportunities they have never experienced before, and it will give them hope and pride,” Preston said.
Without a settlement, the tribes will be at the mercy of the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that the federal government is not bound by agreements with the Navajo Nation to secure their water. The Navajo Nation has the largest land base of the 574 federally recognized tribes and is second in population at over 400,000 people.
Another lawsuit that unfolded over decades in the Little Colorado River Basin in Arizona requires proof that the Navajo Nation has historically used the water, which is far less than the Navajo Nation needs. It is likely that less water will be produced. Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch said that’s difficult to do when tribes don’t have access to much of it.
Since 1978, Congress has enacted approximately 30 tribal water rights settlements across the United States. Federal negotiating teams are working on 22 additional settlements involving 34 tribes in nine states, the Interior Department said.
The highest cost enacted by Congress was for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana at $1.9 billion. The Navajo, Hopi and San Juan tribes of the Southern Paiute are seeking more than $5 billion in settlements.
About $1.75 billion of that money would fund construction of a pipeline from Lake Powell, one of the two largest reservoirs in the Colorado River system on the Arizona-Utah border. The settlement requires the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to complete the settlement by the end of 2040.
From there, water will be delivered to dozens of remote tribal communities.
“Whatever funds we part with are unique funds,” Branch said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
The Navajo Nation settled claims to the Colorado River Basin in New Mexico and Utah. The company is separately tracking two other, much smaller settlements in New Mexico.
Arizona is unique in that, along with California, Nevada, and Mexico, it is located in the lower Colorado River basin and is also assigned to the upper basin. Under the terms of the settlement, the Navajo and Hopi tribes will acquire approximately 47,000 acre-feet of land in the Upper Basin that was used by the Navajo Power Plant, a coal-fired power plant that was shut down in late 2019. This corresponds to almost the entire amount that had been set aside for this purpose. The two countries previously agreed not to seek that water for 50 years, until 2019.
The proposal also includes providing a total of 9,500 acre-feet of water annually from the lower Colorado River to the Navajo and Hopi tribes. The Navajo Nation would also have the right to withdraw 40,780 acre-feet from the Little Colorado River. This represents about one-third of the amount estimated to reach the reservation annually.
One acre-foot of water is approximately enough to water two to three U.S. households for a year.
Arizona, on the other hand, will have to make cuts as its overall supply dwindles, ensuring it knows exactly how much water is available across the state. The Navajo and Hopi tribes, like other tribes in Arizona, would benefit if they could secure water lease rights that could provide water to the state through the canal system that already serves the Tucson metropolitan area and the city of Phoenix. It could be part of the solution.
The two tribes came close to a deal resolving Arizona’s water rights in 2012, but a tentative agreement fell apart. Now, Navajo officials have launched a public education campaign.
They held long community meetings with translations of Navajo words (for example, tó bee há haz’ a, meaning “water rights”) to explain the tribe’s creation story and the role of water in rituals. . They explained the complex water laws, past attempts at settlement, and what is at stake if settlement fails.
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At Leup, the audience asked questions primarily about immediate needs, such as electrical repairs to water pumps, road improvements, and drilling wells.
Marlene Yazzie recalled her mother hitchhiking more than 100 miles to pressure tribal officials to get electricity and water, which never happened. Yazzie himself relies on water delivered to his home in nearby Bird Springs for washing, drinking and raising livestock.
“How many more years do I have to wait?” she asked.
