Leaders of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) are criticizing the federal government’s approach to new water-sharing plans for the Colorado River. The tribe, which has a reservation in far western Arizona, holds some of the oldest, largest and most legally untouchable water rights in the state.
CRIT holds the rights to nearly a quarter of Arizona’s share from the Colorado River.
Amelia Flores, CRIT’s chairwoman, said the tribe “appreciates the continued engagement” with the Bureau of Reclamation and is “encouraged” by some of the new plan’s substance, but called out the federal agency for a rushed process and asked for more consultation in the future.
Reclamation, the federal agency that manages dams and reservoirs across the Western U.S., recently released a Final Environmental Impact Statement, a lengthy document that outlines its plans for managing the Colorado River for the next decade.
The seven states that use the Colorado River typically dictate water-sharing strategies, but failed to come to an agreement about new rules needed this year. That left the federal government in a tricky position, and Reclamation was left to draw up its own rules in a process that broke from precedent.
The result has been a chaotic and unpredictable few weeks. Throughout July and early August, those who use the river’s water have been left to wait for federal announcements with no set deadlines as state and federal and state officials held last-minute meetings behind closed doors.
The FEIS, released on Friday, sets the table for more announcements from the federal government. Reclamation still must release a second document, called a Record of Decision, which will formalize the plan contained in the FEIS.
The federal government is expected to release the Record of Decision shortly, which would mean that water users had a very short window to study and comment on its contents.
“Quite simply, this rushed process is an affront to our status as a sovereign nation,” Rebecca Loudbear, CRIT’s attorney general, wrote in a letter to the federal government.
The letter also lays out a list of highly technical concerns with the details of the FEIS.
“We remain concerned that the highly compressed schedule severely limits our ability to conduct a comprehensive review before the document becomes final,” Flores wrote in a statement. “The conversation with Reclamation was helpful, but it was not government-to-government consultation. Going forward, as the preferred alternative is being implemented, CRIT expects true consultation that respects our sovereign status and provides adequate time for meaningful review and input.”
Flores also wrote that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has failed to properly maintain CRIT’s irrigation systems, making it harder for the tribe to “conserve and properly use” its water from the Colorado River.
Despite CRIT’s frustration with some ideas omitted from the FEIS, the tribe celebrated the document’s reference to its pioneering decision that granted the Colorado River some of the same legal rights a person would receive in court.
Last year, CRIT’s tribal council voted to recognize the tribe’s namesake river as a living being. That marked the first time any government or organization codified “rights of nature” for the Colorado River, part of a broader global movement that has seen indigenous groups attempt to get legal protections for rivers that align with their traditional beliefs about water.
The Colorado River basin is home to 30 federally recognized tribes, and they have largely been excluded from discussions about sharing its water since the earliest attempts by white settlers to manage supplies.
