Navajo president presses Congress for extra time, cash, for water mission

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren requested senators Wednesday for extra
funding, and time, for a pipeline mission that will create a dependable
water provide for 250,000 folks throughout Arizona and New Mexico.

The mission would ship 37,767 acre-feet of water yearly from the
San Juan River basin by way of 300 miles of pipeline to 43 Navajo
chapters, the town of Gallup, New Mexico, in addition to the Teepee Junction
space of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

“This mission not solely advantages Navajo folks, nevertheless it advantages the
native communities like Gallup and the areas in western New Mexico. It
advantages lots of people, and the water is extremely wanted,” Nygren stated
earlier than a listening to of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Nygren was there to testify in help of the Navajo-Gallup Water
Provide Venture Amendments Act of 2023, which might amend a 2009 invoice
that created the framework and recognized the funding for the water
mission.

However that settlement is about to run out on the finish of subsequent yr, whereas the mission remains to be years away from completion. The invoice
into consideration now would lengthen the settlement by way of 2029, when
the Bureau of Reclamation estimates the mission shall be completed. It
would additionally increase the finances cap for the mission by 150%, from the
authentic price estimate of $870 million to $2.175 billion.

Nygren stated the mission has been hindered by engineering challenges, COVID-19 restrictions and provide chain points, and ongoing inflation.

“Initially, when this mission was talked about in 2009, it was at a
sure greenback quantity, however since prices of building and inflation and
all types of stuff has occurred since 2009, the associated fee is much more
costly,” Nygren stated. “If they’ll fund it, it’ll assist loads of
folks.”

Assistant Inside Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland stated
the division helps the modifications to the invoice. He advised the Senate
Indian Affairs Committee that building will cease with out the
extension and elevated funding.

The sponsor of the invoice, Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., stated the modifications
“should be signed in to regulation by this Congress to make sure that the
Navajo-Gallup provide mission that started in 2009 doesn’t grind to a
halt.”

“As soon as accomplished, the mission will assist shut this water hole and
present a extra sustainable provide that can enhance public well being and
financial alternatives for the area,” Luján stated in opening remarks to
the listening to.

In addition to pipelines to ship the water, the mission additionally requires the development of two water remedy crops and 19 pumping crops.

One pipeline within the mission, the Cutter Lateral, was accomplished in
2020 and started delivering water to roughly 6,000 folks as of
2021, in response to the Bureau of Reclamation. The second pipeline, the
San Juan Lateral, has greater than 267 miles constructed or below contract as of
final yr, with one other 33 miles left to be designed.

The areas that will be served by the mission presently depend on
poor-quality groundwater, that’s depleting quickly, with residents
typically compelled to haul water from close by cities. Because the area’s drought
worsens and groundwater ranges drop, the necessity for a dependable water
provide grows extra dire.

“I believe that it’s actually made it robust for our folks to cease
worrying about primary necessities of life and if we will cowl these primary
requirements and we will begin shifting ahead to constructing ourselves up
even stronger,” Nygren stated of the necessity for the mission.

He stated 30% of Navajo households lack working water.

“Nonetheless to this present day we’ve got Navajo folks which might be similar to myself,
although I’m solely 36 years previous, hauled water, drank windmill water
that’s presupposed to be for livestock. And I do know loads of our persons are
nonetheless doing that as of as we speak,” he stated.

Nygren stated that the extra time within the invoice “provides us sufficient
time to really end it, full it and switch it over and get the
water turned on so Navajos can begin having the water that they want.”