{"id":36310,"date":"2024-03-25T21:13:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T01:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=36310"},"modified":"2024-03-25T21:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T01:16:39","slug":"kunc-gila-river-indian-community-charts-own-course-when-it-comes-to-water-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/03\/25\/kunc-gila-river-indian-community-charts-own-course-when-it-comes-to-water-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"KUNC: Gila River Indian Community charts own course when it comes to water supply"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Stephen<\/a>
Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis at the Tucson, Arizona, event where he announced that the tribe does not support the latest plan from Lower Basin states to manage the Colorado River. Photo by Alex Hager \/ KUNC<\/figcaption>\r\n
Gila River Indian Community rejects states\u2019 plan for Colorado, works with feds<\/div>\r\n
Monday, March 25, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By Alex Hager<\/div>\r\n
KUNC<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Gila River Indian Community said it does not support a plan backed by three states for managing the Colorado River\u2019s shrinking water supply, and is instead working instead with federal officials to develop its own proposal for water sharing.

<\/P>\r\nGila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said Wednesday (March 13) at a meeting of policy experts and water scientists in Tucson that his tribe would not go along with the plan unveiled a week earlier by the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada.

<\/P>\r\n“This is not the time to be standing on the sidelines,” Lewis said. “We all have a responsibility to do what we can. And that’s why the community can’t support the current Lower Colorado River approach as it stands now.”

<\/P>\r\nThe tribe is among the most prominent of the 30 federally recognized tribes that use the Colorado, and has signed high-profile deals<\/a> with the federal government in recent years to get big payments in exchange for water conservation. Those deals were celebrated by Arizona\u2019s top water officials at the time.

<\/P>\r\nBut Wednesday’s announcement adds a new wrinkle to an already-complicated process.

<\/P>\r\nLast week, the seven states that use the Colorado River unveiled competing plans for managing the river’s water. The Lower Basin states revealed one, and the Upper Basin states – Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico – revealed another.

<\/P>\r\nThe two plans reflect stark ideological differences between the two groups, marking the latest disagreement between rival camps that have argued over water management for decades.

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Water enters an irrigation canal on the Gila River Indian Reservation on May 7, 2021. The Gila River Indian Community is among the most important tribal players in ongoing negotiations about using water from the river. Photo by Ted Wood \/ The Water Desk<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nLewis, who has positioned his tribe as an ally to the federal government in helping save water, outlined a few major sticking points that led Gila River to work on its own proposal.

<\/P>\r\nOne issue is that the Lower Basin’s proposal creates what Lewis called an “unfair burden” on the state of Arizona. Under the proposed plan, all seven states would have to cut back on demand for water if levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell drop below a predetermined threshold in the future. Arizona would take the largest of those cutbacks.

<\/P>\r\nAnother, he said, is that the Lower Basin’s plan does not explain how it would mitigate the impact of those potential new water cutbacks. Lewis said he would like to either see plans to identify new sources of water away from the Colorado River that could replace water lost to cutbacks, or financial compensation.

<\/P>\r\nStates are under pressure to agree on plans to manage the river before 2026, when the current guidelines for sharing its water expire. Both of last week\u2019s plans came just ahead of a deadline from the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages the West\u2019s dams and reservoirs. The deadline was an effort to get the ball rolling on new river rules with enough time to implement them before a potential change in administrations after this fall’s election.

<\/P>\r\nReclamation officials said they expect to work with states over the spring and summer and reach a draft for post-2026 river management rules by the end of 2024.

<\/P>\r\nNow, Lewis and his staff are working with Reclamation on what could potentially be a third proposal, one he hopes will be released in weeks, rather than months.

<\/P>\r\n“It’s potentially not just the Gila River, because this will affect other tribes as well,” Lewis said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if other tribes started to register their concerns as well.”

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