GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY — Federal and state officials joined tribal leaders March 18 to mark the third anniversary of the Arizona Water Settlement Act and celebrate it finally taking effect in December.
Native American dancers and singers offered prayers as U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who sponsored the act, and others gathered at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort just south of Phoenix.
“The nice thing here was that everybody benefited,” Kyl said.
The landmark agreement settles disputes reaching back more than 30 years, including claims by the Gila River Indian Community and Tohono O’odham Nation. It also settles a dispute over payment for the Central Arizona Project by reducing Arizona’s debt to the federal government.
The settlement leaves the tribes in a position to lease back some water rights to cities and towns.
The act formally took effect in December after U.S. Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne signed a final statement of findings.
Susan Bitter Smith, board president of the CAP, said she is relieved that the 12-year dispute over repayment for the CAP is over.
“It gives us certainty for taxpayers, certainty for ratepayers, water access and water rates,” Bitter Smith said.
The Gila River Indian Community receives 653,000 acre feet of water annually under the agreement. William Rhodes, governor of the community, noted that his tribe once used water from the Gila River to irrigate crops but saw that dwindle as cities grew.
“The Arizona water settlement marks a change in our history,” Rhodes said. “The water provided under the act will re-establish our community’s access to the renewable sources.”
The act finalizes a 1982 settlement guaranteeing 76,000 acre feet of water to the Tohono O’odham Nation over groundwater use by mines.
“The Arizona Water Settlements Act gives us assurances that we will continue to be able to survive with the use of water,” said Ned Norris Jr., the tribe’s chairman.
The settlement allocates almost 180,000 acre feet of water and $250 million for settle future water disputes.