Recently, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, or ADWR, announced that it’s coordinating visits — sometime this fall — with every federally-recognized tribe in the state that has settled its water rights.
Trip details are still in the works.
“It’s still really nebulous,” said Tribal Liaison Donovan Carr, who is Diné, “and I think a lot of that is owed to the fact that we really want to approach tribes in a way that's most practicable and most convenient for them. On our end, we want to be good partners.”
He will accompany ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke, who says Carr’s status as the first full-time liaison in department history, marks a symbolic shift in how state government interacts with tribes under Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
“There’s definite improvement,” Buschatzke told KJZZ News. “I had a part-time tribal liaison under the prior administration. Again, that just shows, you know, the greater commitment I think, to these tribal issues out there in Arizona.”
Arizona tribes are entitled to nearly half of the state’s 2.8 million acre-foot allocation from the Colorado River, according to ADWR. Pending congressional approval for the Navajo, Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute and Yavapai-Apache, the department says 15 out of the 22 tribes would then have adjudicated settlements.
