“Men from the West fight for three things: water, women and gold. Usually in that order.”
Former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater’s words are old, but one thing is true. That is, water is still a source of heartache in the West.One prominent example: By 2022, Arizona will Worst drought conditions in more than 1,000 yearsit has depleted reservoirs, exposed regulatory loopholes and further exposed environmental inequities.
As a Diné water scientist who grew up in the Navajo tribe of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, the topic of Arizona drought is a frequent topic of discussion in my professional and personal life. Early 2023 marked his 20th year following a lawsuit in which the Navajo Tribe seeks to gain rights to the Colorado River. Arizona v Navajo Nation. The Navajo lacked the infrastructure and support to ensure access to clean water. In fact, he has 60,000 members of our tribe without running water. In March 2023, the Navajo filed a water rights lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the United States should determine the Navajo’s water needs and rights.
However, on June 22, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that the United States does not have a “positive obligation” to secure water for the Navajo, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the judgment. The majority ruled that the Bosque-Redondo Treaty of 1868 did not provide for the federal government’s obligation to do so.
What does this mean for the Navajo?
Photo credit: Valerisa Gadi
Navajo tribe. The federal government decided that although the Navajo had water rights established by the Winters Doctrine, it did not help the Navajo to claim those rights.
Although the federal government has water rights for the Navajo, Winter’s Doctrine, it does not help the state to claim those rights. While the decision was a disappointment to many, it was hurt by Governor Katie Hobbs signing Senate Bill 1432, which compels the city of Scottsdale to provide water to the Rio Verde Foothills residents.
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The incident between Rio Verde Foothills residents and the city of Scottsdale made international news. Due to a severe drought, in 2021 the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, has decided that it will no longer be able to provide water to neighboring communities. After January 1, 2023, Rio Verde Foothills residents will no longer receive water deliveries from Scottsdale. For the past year and a half, the City of Scottsdale has been warning residents of the Rio Verde Foothills that they will need water from another source, but residents have failed to heed the warnings and are now in long-term care. I’m having trouble finding a reasonable water solution. Governor Hobbes’ signature only magnifies the environmental injustice that exists in Arizona.
Credit: Valerisa Gadi
Navajo inactive well.
I can’t help but compare the situation of my tribe to the situation at the foot of the Rio Verde Mountains. The media quickly expanded on the situation in Rio Verde, but there are many other communities of color with worsening water conditions. For example, the Navajo water problem has existed since colonization.
In the United States, blacks or Latinos are twice as likely to have no clean water as whites. American Indians and Alaska Natives are 19 times more likely than Caucasians to lack clean water.but These numbers pale in comparison to the lack of access we endure as Dineh.Clean water is more likely to be unavailable at dinner time To 67 times more than any other American. As the Great Drought worsened, I found our future in the desert undermined by the question, “Will Arizona recover?” Will my children’s generation become climate refugees? If the people of Dineh are suffering like this now, what will happen in the future? The only consolation is that the Dineh people continue to grow and thrive amidst historical trauma, broken treaties and continuing health, education and economic disparities, including lack of safe, clean and reliable water. .
However, unlike the forced displacement of the Dine people, despite the fact that they chose to live in the desert and found themselves in this situation, the Rio Verde foothills community is quickly gaining attention. , shows that water is life, but access to it is by no means equal.
Location selection and forced relocation
Credit: Valerisa Gadi
Development of the Rio Verde foothills.
Rio Verde Foothills is an unincorporated community, That means it’s not within Scottsdale city limits, where many residents have filed lawsuits. Because it is unincorporated, residents pay less taxes because services such as sewer, water, and garbage are not provided by the city. Instead, many of the homes in the Rio Verde foothills, where the average home price is between $760,000 and $875,000, have water pipes, sewers, and storage tanks that are not connected to wells. On average, once a month, we have water trucks from Scottsdale fetching water. Many residents claim that contractors were misinformed and unaware of the obvious risks of buying homes in the desert during a drought.Residents also claim they are entitled to water service through the city’s water utility Under Arizona Law. However, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that: This law did not apply to this community This is because the inhabitants of the Rio Verde foothills do not demonstrate a complete lack of access to water.
Credit: Valerisa Gadi
Rio Verde’s golf course is adjacent to many residents without running water.
This plight is in stark contrast to what my tribe has endured for centuries. The people of Diné have lived in far worse conditions and far longer than those living in the Rio Verde foothills. From 1863 to 1868, the U.S. government ordered U.S. forces to forcibly remove the Dine from their original homeland called Dineta. Dineta was within the four sacred mountains of present-day Colorado, Mount Hesperus and Blanca Peak. Mount Taylor, New Mexico and San Francisco Peaks, Arizona. The Army forced both the Dine and the Mescalero Apache to walk over 300 miles to Fort Sumner near Bosque Redondo, New Mexico, in what later became known as the “Long Walk.” It is estimated that A third of the Dineh people were captured and imprisoned Died at Fort Sumner. After unsuccessful attempts at assimilation, the Dineh returned to their homelands and agreed to cease fighting the United States government in what is now known as the Treaty of 1868. In this treaty, the government commits land, including rivers. Following the 1868 Convention, the 1908 Supreme Court decision in Winters v. United States established that: The tribes reserve the right to obtain sufficient water to meet the purposes of the reservation, such as tribal housing, economic development, and governmental needs. More than 30 percent of the Navajo Dine live without access to clean water, despite historical documents between the tribe and the U.S. government.
Prioritize people over greed
Credit: Valerisa Gadi
Joshua Gadi (Dineh) providing water for the sheep.
Unlike the inhabitants of the Rio Verde foothills, the Navajo seem to be stuck between rocks and hard places. Generations of injustice have oppressed the tribe. Navajo suffer from disproportionately high rates of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, mental illness, suicide, domestic violence, and alcoholism. While the residents of the Rio Verde foothills may not face the daily challenges of the Dine people, it is their story, and that of others like them, that forms the surface of America’s drought problem.
Arizona has 22 federally recognized tribes, seven of which lie along the Colorado River. The Colorado River Compact Act of 1922, which underlies all lawsuits over the Colorado River dividing it between states, brought no one into the debate. Western tribal states have long been marginalized in water policy debates. But there are signs of change. The Gila River Indian community sued and won extensive water rights to the Colorado River. Their insistence on seeing the big picture rather than the narrow view helped. Arizona Develops Drought Contingency Plan.
The trauma that the Dineh people have faced has been filtered through generations. In my own experience, the lack of access to clean water in the Navajo has impacted the health of many families and has shaped me into the academic activist I am today. Witnessing the disparities faced by my tribe and the slow judicial process compared to other tribes, A heartbeat of potential solutions It was served to the foothills of Rio Verde. My passion for water research is only growing.
The water government is full of injustice and must put people before greed.
Disclaimer: This essay was written by Dr. Valerisa Gadi in her own capacity. The views expressed are her own and do not reflect her views of the Center for Water Resources Research and the University of Arizona.
This essay was produced through an Agents of Change in Environmental Justice Fellowship. Agents of Change empowers emerging leaders from historically marginalized backgrounds in science and academia to rethink solutions for a just and healthy planet.
