There is no pending adjudication of water rights in the Arizona portion of the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Navajo Nation has made agreements concerning water in the Upper Basin but has never waived claims nor consented to be limited by the application of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948.
Actions taken by the Navajo Nation concerning the use of water in the Upper Basin in Arizona include:
- CJY-95-66: “[A]ffirm the right of the Navajo Tribe to said 50,000 acre-feet of water from the Upper Colorado River Basin pursuant to the aforementioned Upper River Basin Compact.”
- CD-108-68: “[T]he Navajo Tribe of Indians agrees that they will not make demands upon the 50,000 acre-feet of water per year allocated to the State of Arizona, pursuant to the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, in excess of 50,000 acre-feet of water per year, of which 34,100 acre-feet of water per year shall be used by the coal-fuel power plant to be located on the Navajo Reservation near Page, Arizona.” “It shall be understood that the Navajo Tribe’s promise to limit its claim to 50,000 acre-feet of water per year shall only be for the term of the lifetime of the proposed power plant, or for 50 years, whichever shall occur first....”
- CJN-50-69: “[T]he Tribe agrees that of the 50,000 acre-feet of water per year allocated to the State of Arizona, pursuant to Article III(a) of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, 34,100 acre-feet shall be used for a coal-fired power plant to be located on the Navajo Reservation for the life time of the proposed power plant or for 50 years, whichever shall occur first, and an estimated 3,000 acre-feet per year that may be used for the Glen Canyon Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project along with its associated community and recreation developments in Arizona.”