Stakeholders along the Colorado River are trying to figure out how to drastically cut their use of water, and fast. In June, the Department of the Interior told states that use the river’s water they had to save 2-to-4 million acre feet, with only two months to do it.
Tribes are asking for a bigger say in the negotiations over how to do it. They are senior water rights holders along the Colorado, but they have historically been left out of decision-making about it. Now, that may be changing.
Here’s KJZZ’s Lauren Gilger with an interview with Debra Krol, who covers Indigenous affairs for the Arizona Republic, about how tribal influence may be changing.