Colorado River Water Rights Deal Disrupts Access, Infrastructure, and Tribal Sovereignty

July 2, 2026

A deal to secure water rights for three federally recognized tribes in northern Arizona – Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe – was blocked this week by Upper Basin states, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The deal would have resolved the largest existing claim on the Colorado River, allowing approximately $5 billion in federal funding to support water infrastructure. It also would have created a reservation for the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe. As reported in Propublica, Hopi Tribal Council Member Marily Tewa said, “I’m speaking on behalf of my children, my grandchildren and their children that haven’t come yet. I hope, in the future, that they will have water.” 

Hopi Tribe is a community partner through First Nations’ Stewarding Native Lands Advancing Tribal Nature-Based Solutions project. Their project focuses on restoring riparian areas within the Pasture Canyon watershed to improve habitat for aquatic and terrestrial relatives, protecting land and water of cultural importance to Hopi people for ceremony, and increasing water retention during this period of unprecedented drought.