MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
More than 10,000 homes and Native American communities in northern Arizona still don't have running water. A new federal law that has widespread support could fix that, but a few states are standing in the way. KJZZ's Alex Hager explains the holdup.
ALEX HAGER, BYLINE: Marilyn Tewa gets her family's water at this rickety windmill, which pulls it untreated from a well underneath this dusty, windy plain.
MARILYN TEWA: It's a daily thing for us out here to do this, and, you know, other people just don't realize what we go through.
HAGER: This is life on the Hopi Reservation. Tewa is a member of the tribal council and still lives in the village she grew up in. Today, just like back then, water comes to the house in buckets.
TEWA: We don't have any indoor plumbing, so we have to, you know, rely on outside porta-johns. So that's - I hope that one day we'll be able to have all of these facilities that other people have in their homes.
HAGER: One day could come soon for the Hopi, Navajo and San Juan Southern Paiute thanks to a proposed law. Tribes control a big chunk of water in the Colorado River but lack the money and pipes to get it. The proposed law offers a compromise. They would agree to take less water than they might be legally owed, and in return, the government would give the tribes $5 billion to help build a pipeline that could bring running water to thousands of homes. But there's a major hurdle standing in the way.
HEATHER TANANA: What the settlement is proposing is something new.
HAGER: Heather Tanana is a Navajo citizen and law professor at the University of Denver. She explains it like this. Over a century ago, the states that used the Colorado River were split into two camps - the Upper Basin - Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming - and the Lower Basin - Arizona, California and Nevada. When it comes to sharing water, they rarely agree, and the Navajo Nation is stuck in the middle.
TANANA: It straddles three states, and it crosses over, you know, this magical line that was created of the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin.
HAGER: The settlement would let the Navajo Nation lease some of its water from the Upper Basin to the Lower Basin, like fast-growing cities in the Phoenix area that are looking for every drop they can get.
TANANA: That creates a little fear for some of these Upper Basin states that if we allow this to happen, what else might happen?
HAGER: The Upper Basin states are worried that the deal would set a precedent for taking their water and sending it downstream. KJZZ and ProPublica reached out to those four states for comment. Water officials pointed to letters they wrote to the Senate. They support the idea of getting water to the reservations but still have significant concerns. Colorado wrote that downstream leasing would harm the security and certainty of the state's river access. But speaking to senators in March, Navajo President Buu Nygren said worries about a new precedent are unfounded.
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BUU NYGREN: There is no way for this to happen again because there is no other tribe besides Navajo in this position.
HAGER: So now, for people like Marilyn Tewa who haul buckets of water just to wash their hands, all that's left is to wait for a decision from policymakers.
TEWA: We're at their mercy and, you know, begging for something which we are entitled to. I just hope that somebody up there will listen to us and help us out that we get this settlement passed.
HAGER: Tewa says she's hoping on behalf of her children, her grandchildren and their children who haven't come yet.
For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in northeastern Arizona.
MARTIN: This story was produced in partnership with ProPublica reporter Mark Olalde. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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