A Senate panel will review a major water rights settlement this week for three Native American tribes in the Colorado River Basin, which has been pending before Congress for nearly two years.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will meet Wednesday to discuss S. 953, the “Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act,” from Arizona Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.
The legislation would enshrine an agreement reached in 2024 by the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe to secure their share of flows from the Colorado River.
“For countless generations, Arizona’s tribes have been caretakers of the Colorado River. But for too long, water rights disputes have prevented them from having full certainty around their water future,” Gallego said in March 2025, when he and Kelly reintroduced the measure.
