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Navajo water rights bill heads to the full Senate

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 8, 2008 at 8:14 am

From the Las Cruces Sun:

The bill that would settle the Navajo Nation’s water rights claims in the San Juan River Basin cleared its first hurdle Wednesday with approval of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The measure, sponsored by Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman, now heads to the full Senate.

The legislation would authorize a pipeline to serve the Gallup and Navajo communities and create a water rights settlement fund in the federal treasury to pay for it and future American Indian water agreements.

New Mexico’s U.S. senators acknowledge the cost of a water rights settlement is what’s stalling the bill. And while they say they’ve tweaked it to address concerns of the Bush administration, the price remains the same—nearly $900 million. “This is what it costs to do,” said Jude McCartin, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. “And they certainly were happy to spend more than this in other states to settle other water claims.”

McCartin points out that the administration has spent almost $2.5 billion to settle other water rights claims in the West in recent years. In addition, $1.6 billion has gone to addressing water issues in developing countries and the U.S. spent $2.3 billion on water infrastructure and management in Iraq.

“It’s our turn,” she said.

Aqua Blog Maven’s crystal ball says this is the beginning of many such settlements which will occur in the upcoming years. Native Americans were promised water for their reservations by the federal government, and this was upheld by a 1908 Supreme Court decision. The 1922 Colorado River Compact essentially punted the issue into the future, and let’s just say the ball has finally landed. There are now several Native American tribes who are beginning to assert their long-held but unused water rights to the Colorado River, and Native American water rights were listed as one of the top concerns a a recent Western Governor’s Association meeting.

Critics say the Navajo Nation would receive a large amount of water to serve a small population.

But Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said his people have been without water for too long. “It’s been going on for decades,” he said. “You like to do a lot of things … for the people, the communities, for the elderly, but without water, there’s a limited amount of things you could do.”

Read more on this story from the Las Cruces Sun by clicking here. Read about what life is like for the Native Americans who live on remote reservations without running water in this in-depth article from High Country News - click here. You can also read more about this issue under the “Indian Water Rights” category on Aquafornia.

May 8, 2008 · Filed Under Indian Water Rights

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