Opinion: Colorado River Indian Tribes should be able to lease some of our water
Decreasing precipitation and increasing temperatures are changing the availability of water and increasing challenges throughout the Southwest – especially here in Arizona. The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) are uniquely situated to help. Let me introduce the CRIT. We have the first-priority decreed water right in the Lower Colorado River, and we farm approximately 80,000 acres on the Arizona side of our reservation. The river runs through our reservation, dividing our lands in California and Arizona.
-Written by Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes since December 2020.