Three Arizona tribes sign historic water rights agreement

Leaders from the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe signed a landmark water rights settlement agreement. The signing of this historic agreement marks a significant step forward in ensuring water security for all water users in northeastern Arizona and providing sustainable management of the region’s precious water resources.

The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Settlement Agreement is the largest Indian water settlement to date. It not only settles decades of litigation between the three tribes and significant state water users over rights to the Little Colorado River watershed in Arizona, but it also resolves complex, long-standing disputes outside the scope of the litigation, such as the Arizona Colorado River water rights of the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation, groundwater management and federal funding for vital water infrastructure on the reservations.

Bidtah Becker, Chief Legal Counsel of the Office of the President & Vice-President for The Navajo Nation and LeRoy Shingoitewa, Tribal Council Representative for the Village of Upper Moencopi joined Arizona Horizon to discuss the importance of this historical agreement.