Click the link to read the article on The Payson Roundup website (Peter Aleshire). Here’s an excerpt:
The White Mountain Apache Tribe scored a last-minute coup last week, with the inclusion of funding for a long-studied, long-delayed water project in a must-pass, year-end budget bill. Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly managed to wedge money for tribal water settlements into the bill. The bill’s failure would have resulted in a government shutdown. However, the long-standing water rights claim for the Tonto Apache Tribe remains in limbo. The finagle included funding for the White Mountain Apache water settlement, which includes money to build a $100 million dam and distribution system on the Salt River. The Miner Flat Dam will include a pipeline and pumping station that will provide water to Cibecue and other communities on the White Mountain Apache Reservation…
Many tribes have centuries-old claims to water, which they have pursued through decades-old lawsuits and negotiations. Most of the water settlements involve tribes giving up long-standing claims in return for money to actually utilize a portion of the water they claimed. Settling the claims has the net effect of removing a layer of uncertainty about who has a legal right to water from the Colorado River and other waterways. Tribes that have pursued their claims for decades found themselves at the head of the line, when the infrastructure money intersected with the water crisis.
Other tribes have been largely shut out of the rush to settle claims and fund projects. For instance, the Tonto Apache Tribe in Payson has a long-standing claim to water — which includes a claim to water in the Colorado River. The tribe and the Town of Payson tried to convince the federal government to settle that claim when Payson was seeking help funding the $50 million C.C. Cragin pipeline. The deal would have given the tribe rights to water in the pipeline in return for several million in federal funding. In return, the tribe would have dropped claims to water from the Colorado River.