The Ute Mountain Ute can’t access their Colorado River water rights. Here’s how the tribal chairman is trying to change that
The Ute Mountain Ute tribe has rights to Colorado River water that it can’t access and unresolved water rights claims in New Mexico and Utah. Tribal Chairman Manuel Heart, who views the future of the tribe’s water supply as a critically important topic, is set on securing those resources. But in a Colorado River Basin that is already over-allocated and deep in a two-decade drought, it won’t be easy.