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Save The Colorado Statement On Hualapai Water Rights Settlement

October 27, 2017

Save The Colorado Statement On Hualapai Water Rights Settlement

Today, news broke that a bill about Hualapai Water Rights Settlements would be placed into Congress. A story in Water Deeply says “all parties are on board”. This is not true.

Save The Colorado believes that if Native American Water Rights Settlements are going to move forward, those water rights should be taken out of current diversions, not create new diversions from the Colorado River or its tributaries. Just looking at the issue from a broader scale easily backs up our point. Native Americans believe they have up to 2 million acre feet of senior water rights in the Colorado River that they have not gotten and intend to get. There’s no conceivable way that this much new water could be diverted from the river — it would cause massive ecological devastation, let alone extreme political upheaval in the entire water supply system. Point-blank: There ain’t no water left to divert. Further, climate change is decreasing the amount of water in the river.

If Native Americans are to get water from the Colorado River, it should be taken out of already diverted water. This Hualapai water should be taken out of a current diversion in Arizona, not newly diverted from the Colorado River. Our policy is “No New Dams and Diversions” and to the extent possible, Save The Colorado will implement this policy in any permitting process that moves forward.

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