Sacks Tierney Negotiates Landmark $5B Arizona Water Rights Settlement Resolving the Navajo Nation’s 60-Year Legal Battle

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 This water rights settlement is the largest of its kind in the country, providing federal funding and clean drinking water to thousands for the first time.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., (July 18, 2024) — Sacks Tierney P.A., an Arizona-based business law firm, has played a crucial role in leading the Navajo Nation through the final negotiations of a historic settlement that will make clean drinking water available to thousands of people for the first time. The $5 billion Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024 will resolve the state’s most significant outstanding water claims after 60 years of disputes, making it the largest Indian water rights settlement in the country.

The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe signed the agreement on July 17, bringing the three tribes one step closer to securing federal legislation that will authorize federal funding for water infrastructure on their sovereign territories. The settlement is a landmark agreement between the three tribes, the U.S. government, the state, municipalities, and other non-tribal water users over water rights claims in Arizona, including the Colorado River. 

Sacks Tierney’s Indian Law and Tribal Relations practice group leader Judith Dworkin has represented the Navajo Nation throughout six years of litigation, leading to settlement negotiations alongside a team of the Tribe’s own attorneys, including Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch, attorneys in the Navajo Nation’s Water Rights Unit, and Bidtah Becker, chief legal counsel to the Navajo Nation President. Navajo technical staff included Jason John, Robert Kirk, John Leeper, and Crystal Tulley-Cordova. Dworkin described the agreement as a “monumental solution” for communities that have suffered for decades.

“It’s unbelievable to most people living in the U.S. that 30% of Navajo people do not have piped water into their homes. Instead, they’re hauling water — oftentimes from sources with increased levels of arsenic and uranium,” Dworkin said. “This should never have happened, but today marks a crucial step towards making it right. The Navajo Nation understands the critical importance of this agreement for their people, and it’s an honor to work on their behalf. We will keep pushing Congress to recognize the gravity of this agreement, authorize the settlement, and approve the necessary funding.”

If approved by Congress, a new pipeline will provide safe and reliable water to Navajo lands in Arizona for the first time and expand the amount of water available to the three tribal communities. The legislation would also allow the Navajo Nation to lease its water rights under certain conditions and end a longstanding dispute with the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe by establishing a reservation on small portions of Navajo land in Arizona and Utah.

All three tribes have agreed to release the state and federal government from state water rights claims and end longstanding litigation. The U.S. House of Representatives will review the agreement at a July 23 hearing, and it is expected to come before the Senate in September.

The resolution exemplifies Sacks Tierney’s role as an internationally recognized resource for tribal governments, tribal enterprises and Native Americans in complex legal matters.

“The Sacks Tierney team, led by Judy Dworkin, has navigated one of the country’s most intricate and longstanding Western water disputes. Fraught with decades of delays and disagreements, the Sacks Tierney team emerged with a solution that could transform the lives of thousands of people in the Southwest,” Sacks Tierney managing partner Bryan J. Gottfredson said. “The settlement resulting from this effort is not just a legal victory for the Navajo Nation; it is transformative in the manner in which the West’s most precious natural resource, water, will be equitably shared among its inhabitants. We are immensely proud to have played a role in ensuring that the Navajo Nation receives the water rights they have long been denied.”

Sacks Tierney has vast experience in Indian law, focusing particularly on assisting Indian tribes in achieving their economic development objectives. Its Indian Law practice group consists of lawyers admitted to the Arizona, New Mexico and Navajo Nation Bar; they regularly practice in the Tohono O’odham Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, and San Carlos Apache Tribe jurisdictions.

About Sacks Tierney

Sacks Tierney serves Arizona businesses and entrepreneurs in commercial litigation, construction, loan workouts, real estate law, business transactions, bankruptcy and employment law. The firm also focuses on Indian law, water and natural resources and other niche practices. As a member of the distinguished international law firm consortium Meritas™, Sacks Tierney offers the worldwide breadth of knowledge that is normally found only in the largest international firms. Visit sackstierney.com for more information.

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Media Contact: Heather A. Duncan heather.duncan@sackstierney.com 480.425.2635