Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Deb Haaland and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) recently signed an agreement that provides running water to Navajo residents in Utah and resolves claims to water rights.
After decades of negotiations, the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act was authorized by Congress in 2020 and was fully funded by the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The act was proposed in 2016 by the late Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and later by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT).
As part of the agreement, the federal government will provide approximately $200 million and Utah will commit $8 million in state funding for water infrastructure development in San Juan County.
“Since time immemorial, Dinй (Navajo) people have resided here and have continued to create their permanent homeland and livelihood within this region,” Nez said in a statement.
“Present day, this area is home to the community of Oljato, which is one of the eight Navajo Utah communities who will directly benefit from the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Agreement.
“This historic occasion is the product of decades of hard work and diligence of all parties and will benefit over 40 percent of Navajo homes in San Juan County alone. These communities located in this area of Utah have been at the forefront of water insecurity and have managed to endure years of lack of access to clean, running water.”
According to the Navajo Nation, 40 percent of Navajo households in Utah lack running water. In some cases, such as in the community of Oljato on the Arizona-Utah border, a single spigot serves 900 people.
The settlement solves litigation brought by the Navajo Nation over access to water in the Colorado River. The settlement allocates 81,500 acre-feet (an acre-foot is 325,851 gallons) of Utah water and also allows Navajo Nation to lease any unused portion while guaranteeing they will not lose their water rights that are not in use.
The U.S. Supreme Court first recognized Native American water rights in Winters v. United States in 1908. Under the Winters doctrine, when Congress reserves land for a reservation, it also reserves water sufficient to fulfill the purpose of the reservation. However, when the Colorado River Compact was negotiated in 1922, Tribes along the river were not included when states established allocations for water usage.
The settlement is one of 16 water rights claims. The DOI is allocating $2.5 billion toward implementing the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund, which will help deliver long-promised water resources to Tribes and certainty to other neighbors.
Haaland said the investments “will help provide the Navajo Nation with autonomy and flexibility to design and build appropriate water projects that will address current and future water needs.”
Nez told reporters, “We’re ready to rock and roll and get some of these projects done,” but he did not indicate what projects would be prioritized.
Council Delegate Herman Daniels Jr., who represents the Oljato and Navajo Mountain chapters on the Navajo Nation Council, told the Salt Lake Tribune the first priority is to get water to homes, then he hopes to address long-term goals like farming and economic growth. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
