The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo Nation Thursday in a landmark decision about the tribe’s rights to the water in the Colorado River. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.
The Navajo Nation sued the federal government ten years ago asking for an assessment of the Tribe’s water needs and a plan to meet them.
In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the 1868 treaty which established the Navajo Nation as a “permanent home” for the Navajo people does not require the United States to take steps to secure water for the tribe.
The Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President calls the ruling “disappointing” and says it “highlights the broader challenges faced by Indigenous communities” in securing their rights to resources.
An estimated one third of the people living on the Navajo Nation do not have running water in their homes.
The ruling favors the states of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and water districts in California. The Arizona Department of Water Resources says the agency is “grateful” for the outcome and that the decision will preserve “the Secretary of the Interior’s ability to manage the Lower Colorado River system,” in the midst of “drought, climate change, and historic overuse.”
