Feds to invest $210 million for Navajo Nation water infrastructure in Utah

(UC) — Utah, the U.S. Department of Interior and the Navajo Nation have agreed on the Navajo-Utah Water Rights Settlement, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez signed the settlement, which means the tribe waives the right to sue for more water claims to the Colorado Water system, the article states. The tribe will get about 81,500 acre-feet of water annually from the San Juan River under the agreement.

The settlement recognizes the water rights of the Navajo Nation and provides financing to get utilities to the tribe, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The $210 million in funding comes from the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, and Utah will commit another $8 million for water projects in the Utah portion of Navajo Nation, according to the article.

The settlement came after about two decades of negotiations, while the tribe dealt with droughts and the climate crisis, the article states.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) pushed the legislation in Congress, the report indicates. While Congress approved it in 2020, the Infrastructure and Investment Job Act provided the necessary funding for it, and that Act will also invest $2.5 billion in the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund.

“By virtue of my having been part of this infrastructure team, we were able to focus on those places where the need was most immediate, and running water on the Navajo Nation, where people were suffering from high levels of COVID, that was such a high priority that Republicans and Democrats said, ‘OK, this has got to be done,’” Romney said at a signing event in Oljato.  “And so that broke the logjam.”

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