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9Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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The Colorado river, climate change and over use has reduced the once flourishing waters to almost nothing.
US Supreme Court Deciding on Water rights for the Navajo Nation
The fight for water across the American Southwest is a battle between 7 states and the Navajo people. For more than 20 years, the Navajo Nation has fought for access to water from the lower Colorado River, which flows directly alongside the reservation's northwestern border. The Navajo Nation reservation expands across 27,000 square miles in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, Nearly a third of the 170,000 people who live there do not have access to clean, reliable drinking water.
How shameful for the United States of America. This is the year 2023 not 1823, the US government has taken Native peoples lands through Manifest Destiney. While the US took over these lands as the conquering army, the US has, like many other conquering armies through the centuries they have often not treated the conquered peoples very well.
Does this excuse the US government hell no! There is zero reason which Native people should be without water and electricity in this day in age. Thousands who live without running water must drive for miles to refill barrels and jugs to haul water home for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning. Decades-long drought, worsened by climate change, has generated the driest conditions that the American Southwest has seen in centuries. The region's water supply is deteriorating as its population and agricultural output have grown. A good question is, why are we irrigating the desert? Why are we building into the desert? No real smart. Yet we continue to do stupid things.
The river, which provides water for 40 million people across the entire Southwest, is already over-tapped. The seven states that rely on the river have long been embroiled in litigation over the body of water. Instead of doing the right and smart thing by cutting irrigation, limiting water removal from the Colorado, stop expanding into the desert. We will do the complete opposite and fight amongst ourselves to get, or I should say take water from the other guy. Greed is the word.
In June, federal officials gave leaders in the states the draw from the river — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — a mid-August deadline to come up with a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water across the Southwestern watershed. One acre-foot is more than 325,000 gallons. Federal officials said they wanted to see cuts from all seven states, from every sector.
With the deadline now passed, and lingering uncertainty about where those cutbacks will come, some of the region's leaders are calling for the federal government to take charge. At Lake Powell, the nation's second-largest reservoir on the river, water levels are threatening to dip low enough that its dam would lose the ability to produce hydropower. That could come as early as November 2023 The Navajo Nation says it has not been able to fully represent its own interests in disputes over water. Instead, they say they've been blocked in court by the U.S. federal government, which says it represents tribal interests in water disputes. The tribe's claim stems from federal policies that forcibly relocated tribes and their citizens westward and onto reservations, including the Navajo Treaty of 1868. We all know the federal Government manages all Native American affairs and they do not do a fair, or good job.
The US Government certainly have failed in the treaty, When they established these reservations, that came with the promise that those lands would be permanent homelands for the tribe and their people ,you can't have a homeland of any kind without water.
Even as the US agrees that the Navajo people have a right to water, the Supreme Court must decide how far the federal government's responsibilities go in reserving that right. Well it’s pretty simple, the US government has allowed 7 states to take too much water to begin with in the 1920’s when they divided up the water between the 7 states. As climate change started to happen instead of reducing the amount of water taken the government allowed more and more to be used.
I would say the 1868 treaty should supersede the 1920 decisions. The Supreme Court is controlled by republican judges and at least two of the conservative judges lean toward the tribes, we will see how they finally decide about water for people.
The US government lawyers argue this…..The U.S. has argued that a broad ruling in favor of the Navajo Nation could force the federal government to conduct an assessment of the tribe's water needs and build water supply infrastructure. Those responsibilities belong to the tribe, the government says.
Just as the 1868 treaty didn't impose on the United States a duty to build roads or bridges, or to harvest timber, or to mine coal, the 1868 treaty didn't impose on the United States a duty to construct pipelines, pumps or wells to deliver water," said Frederick Liu, an assistant to the solicitor general, addressing the Supreme Court.
In my opinion where the treaty didn’t impose or list any of these duties by the federal government, the federal Government has always been the Great White Father, the one who over sees, the guardian, Trustee of the Native People on all reservations, the Us Government manages the Indian affairs. So in my opinion the US governments responsibilities are to make sure these people have water, and responsibility to have it piped to them along with electricity, as the Great White father, the father needs to take care of his children.
After all if there was precious metals on the reservation the US government would manage that revenue by taking it from the Indians, and giving them a pittance.
States that rely on the Colorado River are against the tribes wants for water. They say that getting water to the reservation would come at the expense of their states' populations and economies.
I would say these states should have cut back on their usage years ago when climate change started. When is it right to refuse water to a human being, water should be a god given right for survival. These tribes did not ask to be stuck on a reservation that was done by the US government, it was totally the US government’s decisions and wishes, now it’s the US governments job to provide water, and decent living conditions to these people who are part of our country, and that goes for the states as well.
Tammy
NOTE: A favorable ruling would not instantly solve the tribe's water access issues. But it would allow the tribe's legal efforts around the Colorado River and other waterways to move forward.
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