Arizona lawmakers seek do-over for $5B tribal water settlement after failed 2024 effort

Arizona lawmakers are taking another shot at a $5.1 billion water rights settlement between the state and three tribal nations after the measure failed to come up for a vote before Congress adjourned at the end of 2024.

The settlement act would secure safe, reliable water for thousands of Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribal members in northeastern Arizona. It would give the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe a reservation. It would resolve water rights disputes, and potentially set up new funding streams for tribes. The bill was reintroduced Tuesday.

In the first go-round, state and tribal leaders could not resolve concerns raised by officials in the Upper Colorado River Basin — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — before time ran out. Now, proponents are tasked with gaining seven-state support and passing a bill with a hefty price tag through Congress at a time when the federal government is taking unprecedented steps to cut its budget. 

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, pointed to the bill’s bipartisan support as a good sign in a news release Thursday.

“Finalizing this crucial agreement, following decades of negotiation in some cases, constitutes a monumental ‘win’ for both the State of Arizona and the tribes,” Buschatzke, Arizona’s top Colorado River negotiator, said in the news release. “So, it is extremely gratifying to see our representatives from both sides of the political divide uniting behind this legislation.” 

This Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at wateredco.org/fresh-water-news.

Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both Democrats, announced the bill’s reintroduction Tuesday, alongside Republican Reps. Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert, and Democratic Reps. Greg Stanton, Raúl Grijalva and Yassamin Ansari. (Grijalva died Thursday from complications of cancer.)

If the bill passes, the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement would resolve water rights claims to the Colorado River, Little Colorado River and groundwater resources in Arizona for the three tribes.

The Navajo Nation would have quantified rights to over 48,300 acre-feet of water per year; the Hopi Tribe, about 8,228 acre-feet; and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, about 350 acre-feet.

One acre-foot roughly equals the annual use of two to three homes. About 30% of the homes on the Navajo Nation reservation do not have access to safe and reliable drinking water.

The San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe would also get a 5,400-acre reservation located within the Navajo Nation out of the settlement. It is the only federally recognized tribe without a land base.

The $5.1 billion, which is still being negotiated, would fund projects, like pipelines, pumps and storage facilities, to deliver a reliable water supply to tens of thousands of people in Arizona. The federal cost of the settlement is the largest ever for a tribal water rights settlement.

The settlement would also allow the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe to lease a portion of their Colorado River supplies off-reservation, creating a new income stream for the tribes and providing supplies to other communities in Arizona, like Phoenix.

Initially this leasing option raised concerns among Upper Basin officials. 

The Navajo Nation straddles the geographic line between the upper and lower sections of the Colorado River Basin. The Nation could decide to take some of its share of water from the Upper Basin, about 44,700 acre-feet, and lease it to water users in areas of Arizona that are in the Lower Basin.

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Some Upper Basin states, like Colorado, have been wary of allowing leases to send Upper Basin water to the Lower Basin, saying it could open the door to other similar transfers. They do not want the Lower Basin states to find a way to buy out available water supplies upstream.

A new addition to the bill could help assuage these concerns, officials said. Tribal nations interested in leasing their water will be able to keep some of it in the Lake Powell reservoir through a conservation program to help the overstressed Colorado River system. The reservoir fell to historic lows in 2021 and 2022.

The water supply in question has historically been used for system conservation, according to the Arizona news release.

Colorado officials did not comment in time for publication. In January, Colorado River Commissioner Becky Mitchell said the state supports reaching a settlement and is continuing to negotiate an agreement.

This settlement would be one step toward solving one of the Colorado River’s longstanding issues: Tribal nations in the basin have rights to about 26% of the Colorado River, but for decades, many tribal nations have not been able to put their water to use often because of high infrastructure cysts and long court and settlement processes.

About a dozen nations had unresolved water rights as of 2021, including the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe. 

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe, which have reservation land within Colorado, have settled rights to water in Lake Nighthorse near Durango that they have not accessed because of financial and infrastructure barriers.

The Navajo Nation celebrated another historic water rights settlement with Utah in February. The settlement will help the Nation provide reliable water to about 6,000 Navajo residents on the Utah side of the reservation, according to news reports. 

The tribal nation is still working to settle its water rights in New Mexico.