River Stakeholders
The Colorado River Indian Tribes
The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) continues to leverage the momentum gained from the passage of the Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2022 (Pub. L. No. 117-343). The Tribes are in the process of developing a Water Code and have begun the public engagement process for full implementation.
CRIT has been working with the Bureau of Reclamation and the National Audubon Society on designing a multi-purpose reservoir on tribal lands that will provide significant fish and wildlife benefits while also helping to increase the efficiency of the Colorado River Irrigation Project. Work on this planning and design study will continue in 2026.
CRIT has entered into a partnership with Indigena Capital to form ‘Amat Kuhwely, a modern tribal majority-owned farming company. ‘Amat Kuhwely will expand farming operations, improve infrastructure, and increase water use efficiency. CRIT will now be able to further develop its agricultural lands and more fully utilize its Decreed water rights.
The Tribal Council is pursuing a resolution bestowing legal “Personhood” status upon the Colorado River that flows through the Reservation, enshrining in law the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ ancient and inherent connection to the River, and providing a new basis for protecting this valuable resource.
During these times of scarcity and uncertainty on the River, CRIT remains unwaveringly committed to protecting the current priority system and ensuring that the Decree in Arizona v. California is strictly adhered to.
Jicarilla Apache Nation
The Jicarilla Apache Nation’s 1992 water settlement resolved the Nation’s future-use water-rights claims in the Colorado River system. Since 1992, the Jicarilla Apache Nation has been actively engaged in efforts to put this water to use. The Jicarilla Apache Nation currently subleases a portion of its settlement water to support residential communities, endangered species and resource development.
In 2022, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and The Nature Conservancy, entered into an innovative water sharing agreement that allows the State of New Mexico to lease up to 20,000 acre-feet of water from the Jicarilla Apache Nation each year to benefit threatened and endangered species and to provide water security for communities, while also providing additional benefits to the Nation and its project partners.
In 2023, 2024, and 2025, 20,000 acre-feet of water was ordered and was released pursuant to the agreement. The agreement demonstrates how tribal and state governments and conservation organizations can work together to find collaborative solutions that benefit multiple interests and users at a time in the Colorado River Basin when these kind of win-win-win projects are so important.
In 2025, the Nation received the prestigious Honoring Nations award from Harvard’s Project on Indigenous Governance and Development, recognizing the water sharing agreement as an outstanding example of effective selfgovernance, an honor that the Nation shares with its project partners–the NM Interstate Stream Commission and The Nature Conservancy. In 2025, the Nation also completed construction necessary to convey 1,200 acre feet of drinking water from the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project to the southern portion of the Nation’s reservation lands, an area previously served by only a few unreliable groundwater wells. With the addition of a reliable water supply, this area of the Nation’s reservation is now available for a range of new uses that will benefit to the Nation and its members.
Navajo Nation
Approximately one in three Navajo households haul water to meet their daily water needs. In 2009, Congress ratified the Navajo Nation – New Mexico Water Rights Settlement Agreement for the San Juan River Basin through the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-11), authorizing construction of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project (NGWSP).
The NGWSP consists of two laterals, the San Juan Lateral and the Cutter Lateral. The Navajo Nation is benefiting from the NGWSP Cutter Lateral completion, where 1,550 households with a population of over 6,200 have been receiving clean, safe drinking water access since 2020. The San Juan Lateral is still under construction. On April 16, 2025, a groundbreaking and blessing was held for $267 million San Juan Lateral Water Treatment Plant. On Sept. 20, 2024, Secretary Deb Haaland provided official notice approving a 5-year extension to the completion dates for the Fruitland-Cambridge Irrigation Project, the Hogback-Cudei Irrigation Project, and the NavajoGallup Water Supply Project, as specified in Public Law 111-11.
In February 2025, U.S. Senators Luján, Heinrich, and Curtis, and U.S. Representatives Leger Fernández and Stanbury introduced the NGWSP Amendments Act of 2025, S.637 / H.R.1482. This bill is needed to authorize additional time and resources to complete the NGWSP and create an operations and maintenance trust fund. In the FY2025 Continuing Resolution, the cost ceiling was increased, allowing the FY25 funding to be released for continued construction.
In 2023 and 2024, the Navajo Nation was engaged with 38 parties, including the Hopi Tribeand San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, negotiating the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement, a comprehensive settlement including Upper Colorado River, mainstream Lower Colorado River, and Little Colorado River water rights claims. In May 2024, the Navajo Nation approved the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement. In March 2025, Senators Kelly and Gallego introduced S.953, the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act. A companion House bill H.R.2025 was introduced by Representative Juan Ciscomani and co-sponsored by Representatives Stanton, Schweikert, Grijalva, Crane, and Ansari.
From 2022 to 2024, the Navajo Nation actively negotiated terms of the Navajo Nation Rio San José Basin Stream System Water Rights Settlement Agreement with the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna, N.M., the Village of Milan, City of Grants, and nine individual acequias and community ditches. In May 2024, the Rio San José Basin Stream System Water Rights Settlement Agreement was approved by the Navajo Nation. In February 2025, Representative Ledger-Fernandez introduced H.R.1324 with Representatives Stansbury and Vasquez, the Navajo Nation Rio San José Stream System Water Rights Settlement Act. A companion bill, S.565, to H.R.1324 was introduced by Senators Heinrich and Luján. On March 5, 2025, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs marked up the reintroduced bill.
The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act, Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Navajo Nation Rio San Jose Stream System Water Rights Settlement Act, currently pending in the 119th Congress, will provide certainty for the Navajo Nation’s permanent homeland’s future and an equal opportunity for health and prosperity for the Navajo people.
The Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act became enforceable on September 15, 2025. The Navajo Utah Water Rights Implementation Team continues working on required tasks before the implementation of water projects. The Navajo Nation is also working to secure its water rights in the Little Colorado River Basin (Zuni River) and the Rio Salado in New Mexico.
Quechan Tribe
In 2025, the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe continued to build on its network of successful partnerships across the public, private, and NGO sectors to secure funding to plan and implement important water conservation initiatives, infrastructure improvements and ecosystem restoration projects on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation (Reservation). Among other initiatives, the Tribe implemented the third year of its System Conservation Implementation Agreement with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and the Bureau of Reclamation to conserve another 13,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead (for a total of 39,000 acre-feet over the past three years), as well as the fourth year of a seasonal fallowing program in partnership with MWD, and the third year of its own seasonal fallowing program. The Tribe also continued to work independently and in partnership with the Bard Water District, BlueCommons, and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to implement efficiency improvements and other water conservation measures on the Reservation, including the lining of the Reservation Main Canal, which has reduced seepage and improving efficiency for water deliveries to large portions of the Yuma Project Reservation Division. With support from the Walton Family Foundation, the Tribe was able to expand its water management department to build additional internal capacity. The Tribe also continued to steward the Yuma East Wetlands and worked to restore additional land on the Reservation to better ecological health.”
Southern Ute
The 1988 Colorado Ute Settlement Act, as amended by 2000 amendments and Colorado state court consent decrees, quantified the water rights of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe (“Southern Ute”) in the State of Colorado. Southern Ute has been rehabilitating sections of the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project. Southern Ute was notified that its Bureau of Reclamation B2E funding proposal was selected for funding in the amount of $16.8 million to rebuild an irrigation diversion structure on the Pine River that provides water to 23,000 acres of Tribal and non-tribal agricultural land. Currently, the B2E funding is on hold, and we look forward to the release of this funding to address this important project. In addition, Southern Ute was able to use its Animas La Plata Project water for the first time since the project was built. Southern Ute continues to make progress on its long-term goal of developing the Tribe’s water resources.
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
Over the past year, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT) Water Resources Committee along with the Water Resource Department, have made great strides in protecting and developing its water resources. Integral successes like the signing of the Animas-La Plata (ALP) OM&R Contract addressing first use and forbearance at last year’s 2024 CRWUA Conference, and continued funding for the Tribe’s Water Resources Department from the Walton Family Foundation, Colorado River Sustainability Campaign- New Venture Fund, and the Nature Conservancy, which further supports UMUT’s goal of building and retaining capacity within the Tribe. Ute Mountain has been actively engaging with the Upper Division States and Upper Basin Tribes, as well as working with the Nature Conservancy, State of Colorado, and Grand Canyon Trust on a Community and Climate Resiliency Project, an initiative developed to help support climate and drought impacts in the Ute Mountain community through a long-term funding mechanism.
Looking forward, the Tribe continues to work on an Upper Basin Concept Paper regarding a Lake Powell Savings Pool and Tribal Deferred Development Program, the UMUT Sweetwater Pumpback Storage Project using leased water from the Jicarilla Apache Nation in the final stages, continuing work on finding options for the Tribe’s ALP water, upgrading pivots, telemetry systems, and water saving crops at Ute Mountain Farm & Ranch Enterprise, starting on a Colorado Water Plan Grant funded Feasibility Study for the Tribe’s unused water rights in Colorado, and ongoing Utah and New Mexico Settlement negotiations.
The Ten Tribes Partnership Has Developed and Approved the Following Principles to Guide its Work on River Policy Going Forward:
- As indigenous people, we are closely connected to the land and natural resources and take seriously our obligation to protect and defend the Colorado River, as well as the plants, animals, people and ecosystems that rely on the river.
- Continued drought has created extreme uncertainty for users of Colorado River water and concerns about the health of the river itself.
- Insufficient water availability will have drastic consequences for our tribes, who rely heavily on the river for commercial, domestic, cultural and spiritual purposes.
- Collectively, the Ten Tribes hold rights to more than 20% of the Colorado River’s current estimated flow, and tribal water, therefore, plays an important role in supply and demand.
- The Ten Tribes must be included in a meaningful way in shaping river policy going forward. • Part of this policy must be an acknowledgment of the extent of tribal water rights, a recognition of tribes’ rights to use that water, and a commitment to assist tribes in benefitting from those water rights.
- It is time to stop thinking about tribal water rights as a problem to be solved and start thinking about tribes and tribal water rights as integral to solving the basin’s problems.
- For the Ten Tribes, compensated forbearance, o#-reservation marketing and protection of future rights to on-reservation development, will be necessary components of any future river management system.
- We must acknowledge that the water supply in the Colorado River was overestimated to start with and is shrinking year by year.
- We must take steps to address supply/demand imbalances while protecting tribal water rights, the river, the reservoirs, and the plants, fish, birds and other species that depend on the river system for survival.