Biden signs water bills benefiting 3 tribes in Arizona

Tribes approved for water leasing in Arizona

Federal legislation is giving leasing authority to the Colorado River tribes along the Arizona-California border.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - President Joe Biden has approved three bills that will improve access to water for three tribes in Arizona amid an unrelenting drought.

One of the measures that Biden signed on Jan. 5 settles longstanding water rights claims for the Hualapai Tribe, whose reservation borders a 100-mile (161-kilometer) stretch of the Colorado River as it runs through the Grand Canyon. Hualapai will have the right to divert up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year, along with the ability to lease it within Arizona.

One acre-foot is enough to supply two to three average households per year.

Another of the bills gives the Colorado River Indian Tribes based in Parker the ability to lease water from the Colorado River. The tribe has one of the oldest, largest and most secure allocations of water in the entire river basin that stretches into seven states in the U.S. West.

The tribe can lease only a portion of its Arizona allocation within the state. It also has Colorado River water rights in California.

The third bill amends a 2010 water rights settlement for the White Mountain Apache Tribe in eastern Arizona, authorizing additional funding and extending deadlines to complete a rural water system and dam.

Congress approved the bills late last year.