Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation back to drawing table on water

Wednesday, August 22, 2012  

The Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation will head back to the drawing table to resolve their long-standing water rights to the Little Colorado River in Arizona.

Opposition within both tribes derailed S.2109, the Navajo-Hopi Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Act. It's not clear when talks might resume for a new bill but everything is off for now.

“As presently configured it’s dead, deader than a doornail,” former Hopi Chairman Vernon Masayesva told Cronkite News. “It’s not going anywhere.”

The tribes currently receive less than 1,000 acre-feet per year from the river, Cronkite News reported.

Get the Story:
Tribal water-rights bill all but dead for this Congress, officials say (Cronkite News 8/21)

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