Audubon Supports Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement

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The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, and other parties in Arizona have come to an historic agreement with the settlement now before Congress. The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024—when passed by Congress and signed by the President—will ensure a reliable water supply for these Tribes in northeastern Arizona and the region.  

The agreement will do this in part by managing groundwater in the region, by settling long-running claims among in-state parties and the Tribes to the Little Colorado River, and by settling Tribal claims to water from the Colorado River.  

The settlement is the result of innovative and creative thinking among the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the San Juan Southern Paiute, and other non-Tribal parties. The settlement provides flexibility for the Tribes to distribute water to their people. We note concerns raised by representatives of the states of Utah and Wyoming regarding the potential for this settlement to allow, within the state of Arizona, delivery of Colorado River water across the Upper Basin – Lower Basin divide. The Navajo Nation’s water management challenges are many; this geographic feature should not be one of them. Approving the settlement with this provision is crucially important to the Navajo Nation and should not be considered to set a precedent for other parties.  

The settlement not only replaces conflict over scarce water resources with cooperation, but it will also provide five billion dollars in funding to the Tribes so that they will be able to deliver safe and reliable drinking water to tens of thousands of people. This settlement is vital to the Navajo people because: 

• Roughly a third of the Navajo Nation households lack running water. 

• The average cost for Navajos to haul water to their homes, ranches, and sheep camps is $133 per thousand gallons, about 70 times more than the cost paid by other water users in Arizona. Without the settlement, thousands of Navajos will continue to haul water an average of more than 30 miles round trip to meet their daily water demands.  

• The settlement provides certainty on the Colorado River to the benefit of all the 39 settling parties.  

It is long past due for these three Tribes to have the water they need to sustain their permanent homelands. Arizona, and the entire Colorado River Basin, will benefit from the certainty provided from this water settlement. 

Audubon’s focus on birds means we also prioritize the protection of the habitat they need. Riparian and riverside habitat is of outsized importance for birds and other wildlife. This habitat relies on healthy groundwater levels to sustain flowing rivers and streams and the rich plant life and wildlife they support. Groundwater sustains seeps and springs that provide not only water supplies to people, but also valuable habitat to birds and other wildlife. Likewise, the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River are lifelines in an arid environment. This settlement will help protect these precious water resources. 

In Navajo “Tó éí iiná até” means “with water, there is life.” At Audubon, we are guided by what birds tell us; and this is why much of our conservation work is targeted at finding win-win solutions for water for people and birds. We urge Congress to support the advancement of S. 4633/H.R. 8940 this session. This water rights settlement is crucial to ensuring the continued and the increased vitality of the Navajo Nation, the Navajo people, and all the Tribes and people in the Colorado River Basin who will benefit from this historic settlement. 

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