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Native America Calling: Dwindling water adds pressure for including tribal voices in future Colorado River water plans
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
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Dwindling water adds pressure for including tribal voices in future Colorado River water plans
Tribes are seeking to flex whatever legal muscle they have to secure Colorado River water protections, just as forecasts show the resource to continue to disappear in the foreseeable future.

The tribes are hoping to gain whatever leverage they can as policymakers negotiate new water plans. More than 30 tribes and seven states utilize water from the Colorado River, which has been experiencing record low water levels from a decades-long drought.

Stakeholders are having to rethink their water use and flex their legal claims to the resource as existing water use plans are set to expire. In one case, the Colorado River Indian Tribes are pursuing their own declaration, giving the river the same rights as a person.

Tribal advocates say it could better protect the important lifeline that carves through several tribal lands in the arid Southwest.

Colorado River
The Colorado River near Page, Arizona. Photo: Floyd

Guests on Native America Calling
Heather Tanana (Diné), initiative lead of the Universal Access to Clean Water for Tribal Communities and a law professor at the University of Denver

Daryl Vigil (Jicarilla Apache), co-director of the Water & Tribes Initiative

Amelia Flores (Colorado River Indian Tribe), chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes

John Bezdek, water attorney for the Colorado River Indian Tribes and a shareholder of the Water and Power Law Group

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