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California Water Agency Under Investigation for Discriminating Against Tribes, People of Color

/in , /by /CalMattersby Rachel Becker

The Biden administration’s environmental justice office is investigating whether California’s water agency has discriminated against Native Americans and other people of color by failing to protect the water quality of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by tribes and environmental justice organizations that says the the state Water Resources Control Board for over a decade “has failed to uphold its statutory duty” to review and update water quality standards in the Bay-Delta.

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Tribes Seek Greater Involvement in Talks on Colorado River Water Crisis

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

As the federal government starts negotiations on long-term plans for the overtapped Colorado River, leaders of tribes are pushing for more involvement in the talks, saying they want to be at the table in high-level discussions among the seven states that rely on the river.

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Ahead of New Colorado River Talks, Governments and Tribes Weigh in On the Future

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

Hot on the heels of a short-term agreement to cut back on Colorado River water use, states are looking ahead to talks about more permanent cuts. The Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which manages the West’s water, announced that those negotiations will formally begin next week with a notice in the Federal Register.

The announcement came at an environmental law conference in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday, where scientists, state and federal governments, and tribes met at the University of Colorado’s law school.

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Conferees Told Colorado River Action ‘Absolutely Critical’

/in , , /by /KNAU - Arizona Public Radio

The word “crisis” ended a Colorado River conference that drew representatives from Southwest U.S. states, tribes and Mexico to Las Vegas this week.

A top Interior Department official closed the Colorado River Water Users Association conference on Friday calling the next three months critical for agreements to deal with drought and climate change.

One deadline is next Tuesday, when federal water managers close public comment on an effort expected to yield a plan by summer to use at least 15% less river water split among seven Western U.S. states, 30 Native American tribes and Mexico.

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Tribes Accuse Water Board of Discrimination and Urge EPA Oversight of Bay-Delta

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

A coalition of California tribes and environmental justice groups filed a civil rights complaint Friday against the State Water Resources Control Board, charging it with discriminatory water management practices that it says have led to the ecological decline of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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Tribe Becomes Key Water Player with Drought Aid to Arizona

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

For thousands of years, an Arizona tribe relied on the Colorado River’s natural flooding patterns to farm. Later, it hand-dug ditches and canals to route water to fields.

Now, gravity sends the river water from the north end of the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation through 19th century canals to sustain alfalfa, cotton, wheat, onions and potatoes, mainly by flooding the fields.

Some of those fields haven’t been producing lately as the tribe contributes water to prop up Lake Mead to help weather a historic drought in the American West. The reservoir serves as a barometer for how much water Arizona and other states will get under plans to protect the river serving 40 million people.

The Colorado River Indian Tribes and another tribe in Arizona played an outsized role in the drought contingency plans that had the state voluntarily give up water. As Arizona faces mandatory cuts next year in its Colorado River supply, the tribes see themselves as major players in the future of water.

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‘Nobody’s Winning’ as Drought Upends Life in US West Basin

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Gillian Flaccus

Ben DuVal knelt in a barren field near the California-Oregon border and scooped up a handful of parched soil as dust devils whirled around him and birds flitted between empty irrigation pipes.

DuVal’s family has farmed the land for three generations, and this summer, for the first time ever, he and hundreds of others who rely on irrigation from a depleted, federally managed lake aren’t getting any water from it at all.

As farmland goes fallow, Native American tribes along the 257-mile-long (407-kilometer) river that flows from the lake to the Pacific watch helplessly as fish that are inextricable from their diet and culture die in droves or fail to spawn in shallow water.

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Opinion: Too Many in Arizona Lack Water Security. It’s Time to Rethink How We Manage It

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Chris Kuzdas and Haley Paul

The past year has shown Arizonans how critical water is to all we hold dear. It’s a pillar of public health, a precious and finite resource, and the lifeblood of our economy and food production.

Water is essential for life, and climate change is shrinking already scarce supplies. Fortunately, we also know what we can do now to help safeguard our water.

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New Curriculum Approaches Water Conservation Through Indigenous Lens

/in , /by /Times-Standardby Isabella Vanderheiden

Local tribes, schools and nonprofits have developed a new high school curriculum that seeks to encourage environmental advocacy through an Indigenous lens. The advocacy and water protection curriculum meets state standards in science, social studies, health, history and language arts and seeks to bolster “culturally informed education” in the classroom.

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State’s Largest Water District Ignores Tribes, Conservationists, Ratepayers on Delta Tunnel

/in , /by /Sacramento News & Reviewby Scott Thomas Anderson

The Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors voted Tuesday to spend another $58 million to support the study and design of an underground tunnel in the North Delta that would divert large amounts of fresh water and send it to municipalities and agribusinesses in southern California.

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