ADWR Director expresses support in Nation’s Capitol for historic tribal water rights settlements
ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke accompanied Arizona tribal leaders to Washington, D.C., during the week of July 22, to support congressional approval of two the historic Arizona tribal water rights settlements: The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement and the Yavapai-Apache Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement.
The Director provided written testimony to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, which heard oral testimony on the two Arizona water-rights settlement bills.
If passed by Congress, the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024 authorizes a comprehensive settlement of the water rights claims of the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe in Arizona.
The subcommittee also is considering the Yavapai-Apache Nation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024, which will settle the water-rights claims of the Yavapai-Apache Nation of north-central Arizona.
The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act settles some of the largest outstanding tribal water-rights claims in Arizona. It includes Colorado River allocations, in-state surface water rights, and rights to pump groundwater. Settlement of the three Tribes’ water rights claims will provide certainty to the Tribes and non-tribal water users regarding the three Tribes’ water rights, while also ensuring reliable, secure and safe water supplies for the three Tribes.
The legislation includes $5 billion in federal funding to construct water delivery infrastructure in northeastern Arizona across the three Tribes’ reservations. Such water delivery infrastructure will include water lines to bring settlement water to communities and homes throughout the three Reservations, including communities and homes currently without running water.
The Yavapai-Apache Nation settlement, meanwhile, would provide funding for construction of a water infrastructure project that would deliver water from the C.C. Cragin Reservoir on the Mogollon Rim to the Yavapai-Apache Nation Reservation for treatment to drinking water standards, along with related infrastructure necessary to deliver that water to customers. This new, renewable supply of water to the Verde Valley would help preserve the flow of the Verde River and reduce dependence on groundwater wells in the area.
Director Buschatzke accompanied tribal leaders and other Arizona water users to express the State of Arizona’s support for the two settlements to members of the Arizona congressional delegation, as well as legislative staff.
“I expressed strong support for these settlements that will provide clean drinking water for Tribes and as a result will benefit the entire state of Arizona,” said Director Buschatzke.
