By Debra Utacia Krol | Arizona Republic
As Arizona tribal leaders prepare to take a greater role in a regional forum on Colorado River issues, a new bill to allow at least one tribe to lease water is making its way through Congress, while another tribe tries to forestall further cuts to water delivery.
The tribes are increasingly concerned that a persistent drought, worsened by a 20-year-long period of hotter and drier conditions in the Southwest, has already led to the federal government’s first-ever shortage declaration for Arizona water users. One tribe is worried that it may be asked to reduce its own water deliveries.
Jason Hauter of the law firm Akin Gump, which represents the Gila River Indian Community, said the only sure way to deal with increasingly dire conditions on the Colorado River is to reduce demand. But there’s another facet to the tribe’s desire to conserve water, he said.
