Tribes say their future is at stake as they push for Congress to consider Colorado River settlement

In the heart of the Navajo Nation and in the shadow of the sandstone arch that gives the tribal capital its name, a simple greeting and big smiles were shared again and again Friday as tribal officials gathered: “Yá’át’ééh abíní! ”

It was a good day indeed for Navajo President Buu Nygren as he signed legislation in Window Rock, Arizona, outlining a proposed agreement to ensure that three Native American tribes have rights to water from the Colorado River and other sources – and Arizona, hit by drought, more security in its supply.

The signing came one day after the Navajo Nation Council voted unanimously in favor of the measure. The San Juan Southern Paiute and Hopi tribes also approved the agreement this week.

Now, the three northeastern Arizona tribes will work to win congressional approval for what could be the most expensive water rights deal in U.S. history.

“We have a very, very difficult task,” Nygren told the crowd. “But we’ll make it.”

The Navajo have one of the largest outstanding claims in the Colorado River basin and officials say needs across the entire territory exceed the proposed $5 billion price tag.

Nearly a third of homes on the Navajo Nation – covering 70,000 square kilometers of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah – do not have running water. Many homes on Hopi land are similarly situated, and the San Juan Southern Paiute have been left for generations without a reservation – or water rights – to call their own.

Tribal leaders told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the proposed agreement is about more than just a fundamental right to water. It marks a new path, they say, for cooperation among Native American tribes as they plan for the future amid the worsening effects of climate change.

While efforts to negotiate a deal have been generations in the making, leaders said the ongoing drought and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic were among the challenges driving the latest round of talks.

Navajo Council President Crystalyne Curley said Friday that the importance of having clean, reliable sources of drinking water has become even more apparent during the pandemic. She talked about Navajo families having to drive many miles to get water and transport it home and making do with just a few gallons a day.

Other non-tribal parties to the agreement must still approve the measure, but tribal officials and their lawyers hope that discussions in Congress are well underway before the November elections.

Congress has enacted nearly three dozen tribal water rights agreements in the U.S. over the past four decades. According to the US Department of the Interior, federal negotiating teams are working on another 22 agreements involving dozens of tribes.