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Mesa Indigenous Support
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The Hopi Tribe 10/29/04 by Vanessa Charles
KYKOTSMOVI, AZ – The Hopi and Navajo nations have insufficient ground water
to meet their needs over the next 100 years and will need to import water by
two pipelines from Lake Powell, according to a recently completed study
commissioned by Congress and conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Findings in the study support efforts by The Hopi Tribe to secure outside
sources of water and preserve the Navajo Aquifer, which provides the tribe with
water for drinking and ceremonial purposes.
“The findings demonstrate the pressing need for imported water to the Hopi
and Navajo reservations and the substantial negative impacts of continued
exclusive reliance on groundwater pumping from the Navajo Aquifer,” Hopi Chairman
Wayne Taylor Jr. said.
Previously frustrated in its efforts to seek Colorado River water from
Lake Powell, the tribe is seeking to build a pipeline from the nearby Coconino
Aquifer to supply the water needed to slurry coal from the Black Mesa Mine,
located on land jointly owned by the Hopi and Navajo nations, to the Mohave
Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. The mine is currently using water from
the Navajo, or N-Aquifer, to slurry the coal.
The Tribal Council also agreed earlier this month to acquire the rights to
up to 6,000 acre- feet of Colorado River water.
The report, titled “Assessment of Western Navajo and Hopi Water Supply
Needs, Alternatives, and Impacts,” finds that the available groundwater resources
of the region are insufficient to meet projected tribal water needs over the
next 100 years. It recommends that two pipelines be constructed and water
imported from Lake Powell in order to meet those needs.
In 2001, Congress authorized a study of the long-term water needs of the
Hopi and Navajo Reservations. Calling for a comprehensive water development
plan, the study’s objective was to identify the most cost-effective projects for
providing quality, reliable municipal and industrial water to major Hopi and
Western Navajo communities while minimizing impacts on environmental
resources, including springs flowing from the N-Aquifer.
The study finds that exclusive reliance on groundwater resources,
particularly the N-Aquifer, would have devastating consequences for many reservation
communities. It predicts that the wells of some communities would dry up
within 20 to 30 years and many more in later years, causing substantial harm to
tribal societies and cultures and adversely impacting the economy of the
region. It also showed that continued pumping from the N-Aquifer would likely
result in the reduction in flows from culturally valuable springs.
The study also considered seven alternatives each with different
combinations of projects for supplying the water needs of the region over the next
100
years. The report concludes that a combination of projects previously
proposed by the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation, including two pipelines – a Black
Mesa Pipeline and the Western Navajo Pipeline – delivering a total of 17,000
acre-feet from the Colorado River at Lake Powell would best ensure that the
long-term water needs of the region would be met in a cost-effective manner
while minimizing impacts on springs, streams and washes, other environmental
impacts and impacts on cultural resources.
“With these important findings in hand, Congress should now take the next
step and move quickly to put in place the agreements and legislation necessary
to eventually deliver the water supply and systems that will lift the Hopi
and Navajo communities to the standards of living presently enjoyed by all of
Arizona’s non-Indian communities,” Taylor concluded.
mailto:vcharles@hopi.nsn.us
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