SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In parts of the Navajo Nation, about a third of the population lacks reliable access to clean water, and people travel miles of red dirt roads to bring water home. must also drive. Some rely on unregulated wells and water trucks.
already faced with some most severe water shortage In the drought-hit Southwest, the tribes now have to contend with this week’s Supreme Court ruling, which makes it even more difficult to secure water for the 170,000 registered tribes living on the reservation.
Navajo President Boo Nigren told The Associated Press, “We know the battle and strategy ahead will be more difficult.”
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The tribe claimed that “permanent residence” was promised in a treaty signed by the U.S. government more than 150 years ago. Includes rights to some water cross the settlement. At issue in court was whether the federal government needed to quantify the water needs of the tribes and develop plans to meet them.
Twenty years after the Navajo Nation sued the federal government to force action, their frustrating and tortuous journey in federal court ended with a 5-4 ruling written by Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Treaty of 1868 “It contains no language that obliges the United States to take affirmative steps to secure water for its tribes.”
The decision is a win for states that depend on the Colorado River, which flows from the Rocky Mountains through the deserts of the southwestern United States. Very little water reaches Mexico’s Gulf of California anymore because so much water is being sucked up.Judgment upheld Negotiations already difficult The Biden administration brokered how to share the shrinking river flow.
Mandating Arizona (which also includes Nevada and Colorado) to meet the water needs of the Navajo would involve water for 40 million people and $15 billion a year in agriculture that grows most of the country’s winter vegetables. He argued that it would disrupt future negotiations.
However, this puts the tribe at a serious disadvantage.
“Where do the Navajo go from here?” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a dissenting opinion. They “waited patiently for someone to help them, only to be told (repeatedly) they were in the wrong line and had to take another line.”
As a result of this ruling, if the Navajo want access to water from the Lower Colorado River, Congress will take action or urge the Supreme Court to reopen previous litigation in which the tribes allocated water between states. Lawyer Rita McGuire said it needs to. Represented the southwestern states that opposed the tribes.
“We are very happy,” she said.
Mr. Gorsuch found one “silver silver lining,” writing that the majority agreed that the Navajo might be able to make such a claim. “After today, it is difficult to see whether this court (or any other court) can again fairly deny a request from the Navajo to intervene in a lawsuit over the Colorado River,” he wrote.
This lawsuit is just one of many legal challenges to a water rights agreement established more than a century ago. The Navajo Nation and other tribes are excluded from the landmark 1922 treaty that divided the Colorado River into seven U.S. states, leaving all stakeholders facing a less watery and more watery future. For years, they have protested that states are putting them on the back burner. request.
Fawn Sharpe, President of the National American Indian Congress, said the judges “only ensure access to water and require the United States to take steps to protect or provide that water.” He helped the federal government evade its promises to the tribes by stating that it was not a thing.” our people. “
Kavanaugh said Congress can still help the Navajo. Congress has allocated billions of dollars to help secure water rights for the tribes and build the infrastructure to ensure clean water for the people.
But according to Grant Christensen, an Indian law expert at Stetson University, Congress is unlikely to support the tribes.
“We don’t have enough water right now,” says Christensen. “Parliament will not take further steps to secure India’s water rights from neighboring states.”
And supplying water to the entire Navajo reservation is particularly difficult due to its dry environment and the long distances required. The reservation is the largest in the United States at 27,000 square miles (71,000 square kilometers), an area larger than West Virginia.
The Navajo have already reached settlement for water From the San Juan River of New Mexico and Utah.
Moving forward, Niglen said the focus will be on resolving Arizona’s Colorado River tributary water rights while the case progresses in court.
Heather Tanana, a University of Utah law professor and Navajo citizen, said it was a well-known position for the tribe.
“No one disputes that the Navajo have a right to water,” she said. “But it takes their own power to really make them happen.”
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Associated Press reporter Jessica Gresco, who lives in Washington, contributed to this report. Mr. Phyllis reported from St. Louis.
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