From the Navajo-Hopi Observer:
On Dec. 15, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye spoke before the 2016 Colorado River Water Users conference session, Tracking the Waters: Reclamation and the Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study.
Begaye said the tribal water study will aid the Navajo nation in establishing a foundation to assess our use of the Colorado River water for future Navajo Nation water projects.
“In the future, the fight for water will be intense,” he said. “The Navajo Nation will aggressively fight to protect our land, water and its people. Securing water rights and water development projects are priorities of the Navajo Nation.”
The Tribal Water Study will be used to assess system impacts resulting from development of tribal water and help identify tribal water development challenges and opportunities. The study began in January 2014 and was conducted jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Ten Tribes Partnership.
The session provided participants a foundation of the Ten Tribes Partnership, collaborative efforts to include the member tribes in future basin water studies and the publishing date of the study.
The Navajo Nation, which is entirely located in the upper and lower portion of the Colorado River Basin, appropriated more than $250 million over the next five years toward water infrastructure development for water projects.
“The Office of the President and Vice-President has created a qualified team to work alongside the Navajo Nation Council to ensure our water rights are protected for future generations,” Begaye said.
Representatives from the Navajo Nation and the Bureau of Reclamation also had a meeting to discuss the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, the Southwest Navajo Rural Water Project, the Western Navajo Water Supply Project and Bureau of Reclamation programs updates.
“Creating and completing critical infrastructure water projects is essential, not only to provide our people with water, but to improving economic development and for job creation for the Nation,” Begaye said.
The Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership, also known as the Ten Tribes Partnership, is an organization formed in 1992 by 10 federally recognized tribes with reserved water rights in the Colorado River Basin. The member tribes are: Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Nation, Navajo Nation, Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Quechan Indian Tribe and Cocopah Indian Tribe
The Tribal Water Study is expected to be published in early 2017. More information about the study is available at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/crdstudy/tribalwaterstudy.html.
Here’s the release about the water study from Reclamation:
U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Anne Castle announced today a collaborative agreement for the Bureau of Reclamation to work with the Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership (Ten Tribes Partnership) in a tribally-focused effort to address projected water supply and demand imbalances in the Colorado River Basin.
This effort, implementing commitments identified in the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study published last December, will focus specifically on issues facing the tribal communities in the basin and their water resources.
“The Colorado River is the essential foundation for the physical, economic and cultural sustenance of the tribes in the Ten Tribes Partnership, and it is critical that we work together to address existing and future threats to the adequacy of supplies and the River itself,” said Castle. “A hallmark of success and progress on difficult Colorado River issues has been collaborative efforts among various parties with vested interests in the River, and the agreement announced today is an excellent example.”
“The Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership is an important stakeholder in water use for multiple purposes including irrigation, recreation, wildlife and habitat restoration, municipal, industrial, mining, power generation, as well as cultural and religious activities,” said T. Darryl Vigil, chairman of the Ten Tribes Partnership.
Castle announced the agreement today at a joint event with key representatives of the Ten Tribes Partnership in Albuquerque. Reclamation and the Ten Tribes Partnership will collaborate on the study on the role of tribal water rights that is expected to be completed by December 2015. Castle says Interior and the Partnership will allocate financial resources and technical expertise for the effort – including today’s commitment by Reclamation to provide $100,000 to jump start the study effort. Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor says ensuring meaningful tribal participation with financial assistance from the agency’s Basin Study Program will only help to improve the effort.
“I am pleased that we have been able to build upon our work with the Ten Tribes Partnership to ensure tribal issues continue to be addressed in Colorado River Basin Study activities,” Connor said. “Reclamation’s commitment to meet the nation’s obligations to Indian Country continues to be strong and unwavering.”
The 2012 Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, the most comprehensive study of future supplies and demands on the Colorado River ever developed, was produced collaboratively with a wide array of stakeholders including the Ten Tribes Partnership. The study’s findings projected significant shortfalls between expected water supplies and demands in the Colorado River Basin in coming decades. The study is widely acknowledged as a call to action for all who rely on the Colorado River. Building upon recent successful efforts to improve water management in the Basin, recent efforts have focused on enhancing the resiliency and sustainability of the Basin’s limited resources.
The Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership began in 1992 and is made up of ten tribes: the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Cocopah Indian Community, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Nation, Navajo Nation, Quechan Indian Tribe, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. For more information on the Partnership visit: http://www.crwua.org/colorado-river/ten-tribes.