ARIZONA / TRIBAL NATION
Navajo Nation
- Population (2020)
- 165,158
- Finding
- June 22, 2023
- Cause
- never connected
- Where
- 35.67°N, 109.06°W
What happened, and when
Every dated water event the register holds for Navajo Nation, newest first, each with the sources that document it.
- Excludedon the card
Excluded: what happened
The Navajo Nation spans about 17 million acres of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and a large share of its homes have never had piped water: the Navajo Nation Council told the U.S. Senate in 2023 that roughly 30 percent of homes lack running water, while the EPA cited 2020 estimates of about 15 percent of the population without piped water. On June 22, 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court held in Arizona v. Navajo Nation that the 1868 treaty reserved water for the reservation but imposed no duty on the United States to assess the Nation's needs or secure water for it. The ruling left the Nation to pursue water through further litigation, settlement or legislation.
- Supreme Court of the United States: Arizona et al. v. Navajo Nation et al., No. 21-1484, slip opinion (June 22, 2023)
- U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: Testimony of Speaker Crystalyne Curley, 25th Navajo Nation Council, hearing on "Water as a Trust Resource" (September 27, 2023)
- Navajo Nation Department of Justice: Navajo Nation Water Rights Intact After SCOTUS Ruling (June 29, 2023)
- PBS NewsHour (AP): Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation on water rights dispute (June 22, 2023)