Navajo Nation discusses water issues in Las Vegas

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Members of the Navajo Nation's Resources Committee were in Las Vegas this week for a Law of the Colorado River Superconference to discuss issues from drought and climate change to endangered species and international water conflicts.

The conference was held at the Las Vegas Flamingo hotel, a 15-acre tropical paradise in the desert Southwest, amid cascading waterfalls, blue lagoons, and lush greenery.

The featured presentation, "21st Century Challenges for Managers and Users of the Colorado River," is of significance to Navajo as it seeks to solidify its claims to water in the Colorado River Basin.

According to an October 2006 North Central Arizona Water Supply Study from the Bureau of Reclamation, more than 30 percent of Navajo tribal members live without plumbing and about 28 percent are without kitchens.

BOR said total economic cost to those households that haul water has been estimated at nearly $37,000 per acre foot, or $113 per 1,000 gallons. In comparison, the Navajo Nation approved the leasing of water for the proposed Desert Rock Energy Facility in New Mexico at $1,000 per acre foot.

The price of hauled water for Navajo residents varies from zero for water obtained from local wells to $250 per 1,000 gallons for water from vended sources. In 2003, the average price was $32 per 1,000 gallons.

Many members of the Hopi Tribe also are without running water and use is estimated at only 10-35 gallons per capita per day (gpcd). For Navajo residents with running water, estimated usage rates are 75 to 100 gpcd, but for those without plumbing, the estimate is 10-15 gpcd.

The Hopi Tribe purchased 6,000 acre feet per year of water rights out of the Lower Basin from Cibola Irrigation District in 2004. However, there is no current means to deliver this water to the reservation.

According to 2006 data, water rates for the Upper Village of Moenkopi are $35 per month for a 3-inch meter. Moenkopi Day School rates are $500 per month for a 4-inch meter, while the rates of other business are $100 per month for a 2-inch meter. The Upper Village also pays $2,632 per month for wastewater disposal.

Many of the water haulers rely on nonpotable water sources for their supply and/or unsanitary tanks for the transport and storage of water.

Supply uncertainty
Article III of the 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact apportions to the state of Arizona the consumptive use of 50,000 acre feet per year of Colorado River water from the Upper Colorado River System.

About 30,000 acre feet of Arizona's Upper Basin apportionment is used at the Navajo Generating Station near Page, with the majority of the remaining apportionment used on the Navajo Reservation.

Around 1.6 to 1.8 million acre feet of Arizona's Lower Basin apportionment is diverted into the Central Arizona Project canal near Lake Havasu, with the rest of the allocation used by senior water right holders in southern and western Arizona.

The Hopi Western Navajo Water Supply Study of 2004 evaluated issues of diversion points, priority water rights and how shortages are apportioned. The study concluded that the acquisition of long-term imported mainstem Colorado River water contracts represents an uncertainty in the Colorado River supply analysis.

The study also found that system shortages and/or prolonged droughts could potentially have severe impacts on the amount of Colorado River water that is available and on the reliability of the delivery of that water.

The Navajo Nation filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of the Interior in March 2003 alleging that, in policy decisions concerning the Lower Colorado River, the department had breached its trust obligations.

The complaint, pending before Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt in Phoenix, alleges that quantification of the Navajo Nation's rights to the waters of the Lower Basin of the Colorado River could result in a determination that the Navajo Nation's rights are superior to those subject to contracts with the Secretary, and thereby threaten the ability to deliver Central Arizona Project water to the tribe and non-Indian contractors. Stanley Pollack, Navajo water rights attorney, said the Nation has filed a status report advising the court that meetings are ongoing.

"We have a stay in the litigation there that expires in October," he said recently. "What we're trying to do in the settlement discussions is actually settle the underlying claim for water. It's not just Colorado River, it is Little Colorado River as well."

Finding water for Phoenix is a challenge for everyone, he said, "but the Navajo claims also threaten the supplies that Phoenix relies on. They want a settlement. The problem is that a lot of the parties have differing views as to the strength of the Navajo claims."

The Arizona Water Settlement Act, introduced by Sen. John Kyl on Feb. 25, 2003, provides assurance to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District of its water supply and repayment obligation.

The act provides for a final allocation of Central Arizona Project water, with 47 percent of the CAP supply permanently designated for Indian uses and 53 percent designated for non-Indian municipal and industrial or agricultural uses.

The bill was passed by Congress on Nov. 17, 2004, and signed by President Bush on Dec. 10, 2004. But most of the act will be repealed unless a number of conditions are satisfied by Dec. 31, 2007.

Future flows
The National Research Council in a report issued in February determined that tree-ring based reconstructions of the Colorado River's flow over hundreds of years show that average annual flows vary more than previously assumed and that extended droughts are not uncommon.

The Research Council also determined that future droughts may be longer and more severe because of a regional warming trend that shows no signs of dissipating and that evidence suggests that rising temperatures will reduce the river's flow and water supplies.

Coping with water shortages is becoming more difficult because of rapid population growth, and technology and conservation will not provide a panacea for dealing with limited water supplies in the long run, the report warned.

The Colorado River basin covers 240,000 square miles and extends over seven states and a portion of northwestern Mexico. The river's annual average flow of roughly 15 million acre-feet of water is used by tens of millions of Americans for drinking and other household uses, agriculture, landscape irrigation, hydroelectric power, rafting and other recreational activities.

Exceptionally dry conditions in much of the Colorado River Basin in recent years, along with new streamflow reconstructions based on tree-ring data, prompted the Research Council to convene a committee to examine how hydroclimatic trends might affect the river's future flows.

Many different climate models point to a warmer future for the Colorado River region, the committee noted, although projections of future precipitation are more uncertain.

Significant warming in the region over the past few decades is shifting the peak spring snowmelt to earlier in the year and contributing to increases in water demands, especially during the summer. This year's snowmelt occurred one month earlier than usual.

A steadily rising population and related increases in water demand also will affect Colorado River water management. Arizona has experienced around a 40 percent rise in demand since 1990 and Colorado, 30 percent in the same period.

Water consumption in Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas, doubled between 1985 and 2000.

Despite advances in understanding of the basin's hydrology and climate, knowledge is lacking on the environmental effects of water transfers and how best to forecast water demand.

The committee noted that urban water demands are far more prominent today than in earlier eras when the compact and other agreements, treaties, and laws governing the river were forged.

It called for a collaborative, comprehensive basinwide study of urban water practices and pressing issues in water supply and demand, which should be used as a basis for action-oriented water planning.