#SupremeCourt rules against #Navajo Nation in water supply case

The court pointed to treaties signed in the 1800s to support its decision. The #NavajoNation suit comes as water from the #ColoradoRiver is scarce and states in the arid southwest are tangled in disputes over water allocation.

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN, Jun 23, 2023

"The suit comes as water from the Colorado River is scarce and states located in the arid southwest are tangled in disputes concerning water allocation. The tribe claims that while the average person on the Navajo reservation uses seven gallons of water a day, that national average is 80 to 100 gallons.

"The nation, which extends across #Arizona, #NewMexico and #Utah and lies within the drainage basin of the Colorado River, has signed two treaties with the United States. In 1868, the United States promised the tribe a permanent homeland.

"Shay Dvoretzky, a lawyer for the Navajo Nation, told the Supreme Court: that the Navajos 'made clear' that they understood the 'promise of a permanent homeland' in the 1800s to include 'adequate water for agriculture and raising livestock. Hauled from miles away, water can cost up to twenty times more than it does in neighboring off-Reservation communities,' he argued. "

#WaterIsLife #RespectTheTreaties #NativeAmericanNews #WaterRights #SCOTUS

Read more:
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/supreme-court-rules-against-navajo-nation-in-water-supply-case/1547711