Thirty federally recognized tribes lay claim to a fourth of the Colorado River which provides water to 40 million people in the western U.S. and Mexico.
By Amanda Pampuro, Courthouse News Service
Native American tribal leaders continued to seek recognition and compensation for their legal and cultural share of the Colorado River at the 75th gathering of the Colorado River Water Users Association at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel.
Thirty federally recognized Native American tribes live in the Colorado River basin, but none were present during the negotiation or signing of the 1922 Colorado River Compact that largely governs the modern law of the river.
Through treaties that predate the compact, two-thirds of these sovereign nations collectively have the right to 3.2 million annual acre feet of water, about a quarter of current supply. Another third of the sovereign nations have unsettled water claims alongside additional tribes that continue to call the basin home without federal recognition.
An estimated 1 million acre-feet of undeveloped Colorado River water allocated to Native Americans flows to downstream users each year with no compensation and little recognition. Many tribes lack the infrastructure and funding needed to deliver running water to homes and potable drinking to people.
Historical inequities persist along state lines that cut across native territory and disrupt meaningful channels needed to connect tribal and state governments. With a 2026 deadline to complete a new operating agreement, federal, state and tribal leaders recognize the need to work together on solutions for the multitude of problems facing the future of the river.
“We have spent this last year working through the challenges that we saw and responding to those challenges on the river,” said Camille Calimlim Touton, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation commissioner, on a Friday panel.
Under President Joe Biden-appointed U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Pueblo of Laguna, many tribal leaders say momentum has picked up. Federal programs recently provided $16.5 million of technical assistance to tribes, and Touton said she will continue to seek funding and opportunities to break down barriers blocking water flows.
Although ten tribal flags stood on the conference stage alongside those representing seven states and two nations, the basin states addressed the conference separately from the tribes.
“While great strides are being made, there is still more work to do,” said Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Arizona-based Colorado River Indian Tribes. “Despite holding one-fourth of the river’s rights, we are still not engaged. Our livelihoods have no voice. I’ve heard all the arguments on why it’s not feasible to have tribes at the table with the state governments and I’m not buying them.”
Each tribe holds unique history and agreements with surrounding state and federal governments. However many leaders share a long-view, speaking not of planning for the future, but future generations.
“Let us choose how we utilize our water uses so we can better plan for our children and grandchildren,” said Manuel Heart, chairman of the Mountain Ute Tribe concentrated in southern Colorado. “We need fully living documents for current and future quantification of tribal water rights to outlive any administration.”
While tribal representation has never been stronger before the federal government and other river users, formidable systemwide challenges remain.
Forty million people living in the southwest U.S. and Mexico depend on the Colorado River for crops, power generation and drinking water. Exasperated by climate change and regional aridification, water flows have decreased by an estimated 4 million acre-feet over the last 100 years as the population continues to swell.
