Historic Agreement with the Federal Government and Arizona Gives Colorado River Indian Tribes Control Over Use of Their Water off Tribal Land

By Noel Lyn Smith

PARKER, Ariz. — Against a backdrop of the Colorado River, members of the Colorado River Indian Tribes watched Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Amelia Flores, the tribe’s chairwoman, sign a historic agreement on April 26 that asserts the tribe’s right to lease portions of their allocation of the river’s water to users away from the tribal land.