The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against the Navajo Nation in a dispute over water access from the Colorado River, saying that the 1868 treaty with the tribe did not require the U.S. government to take active steps to secure water access. The tribe had requested an assessment of their water rights, but the ruling means they will not receive the water access they had requested. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority, saying that it was not the judiciary's role to rewrite and update the 155-year-old treaty.
Posts tagged as “The Colorado River”
Officials from Arizona, California, and Nevada have reached an agreement to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026, the equivalent of 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, in order to protect the Colorado River from drought. In exchange for temporarily using less water, users in the three states will receive federal funding, though the amount is unspecified. This agreement is a positive step towards ensuring the Colorado River continues to provide power and drinking water to the seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico, and Native American tribes that rely on it.
The Biden administration has released an environmental analysis of competing plans for how seven Western states and tribes reliant on the Colorado River should cut their water use. The review did not state which option should be chosen, but defended the Interior Department's authority to make sure basic needs such as drinking water and hydropower are met. The White House has proposed new measures to dramatically cut how much water states can draw from the Colorado River, and the Interior Department is expected to make a decision soon.
The Colorado River is a vital source of water and electricity for seven states and numerous tribes. The US Interior Department has released two plans for how to reduce water usage in the Colorado River system, with California and some tribes favoring one and the other six states favoring the other. The Biden administration has declined to take a side, but the analysis provides an overview of the situation and potential consequences of each plan to help the states and tribes come to an agreement.