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Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement

On April 19, 2005, the Navajo Nation and the State of New Mexico executed a settlement agreement to resolve the claims of the Navajo Nation for use of waters in the San Juan River Basin in northwestern New Mexico.  On March 30, 2009, President Obama signed federal legislation authorizing and providing funding for the Navajo Nation Water Rights settlement, and a revised settlement agreement, with the United States, was executed on December 17, 2010.  The San Juan River adjudication court conducted an expedited inter se proceeding and on November 1, 2013, entered two Partial Final Judgments and Decrees (“decrees”) adjudicating the water rights of the Navajo Nation.  Appeals of the decrees are pending before the NM Supreme Court.

The Navajo settlement provides water development projects for the benefit of the Navajo Nation and non-Navajo communities in exchange for a release of the Navajo Nation’s claims to water that could displace existing non-Indian water uses in the basin.  One of the primary elements of the settlement is the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Supply Project (also known as the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project) that includes a pipeline currently under construction by the Bureau of Reclamation.  The Project will bring a renewable surface water supply from Navajo Reservoir to both Navajo and non-Navajo communities in northwestern New Mexico.

Documents pertaining to the proposed settlement agreement are as follows:

Settlement Documents Navajo Nation Expedited Inter Se Proceeding/San Juan Settlement

Survey Reports and Maps

Laws and Congressional Records

Reports and Memoranda

Settlement Documents

Agreements and Contracts

Court Filings

State's Discovery Responses

Responses to SJWC’s First Set of Discovery Requests

NIIP and Navajo Settlement Documents

Documents Produced to the SJWC in SJWC v. D’Antonio

Responses to Gary Horner’s First Set of Discovery Requests

Responses to City of Aztec and the City of Bloomfield’s First Discovery Requests

Responses to Conoco Phillips and El Paso Natural Gas Company’s First Discovery Requests

Responses to ABCWUA and City Of Espanola’s First Set of Discovery Requests

Responses Concerning 2007 BOR Hydrologic Determination

Response to Request for Documents about the Settlement

Rule 1-033.E Responses – OSE/ISC Business Records

Navajo Nation Expedited Inter Se Proceeding

Proposed Scheduling Order

Navajo Nation Expedited Inter Se Proceeding and Form of Notice of Intent to Participate

Settlement Act, Settlement Motion and Settlement Agreement with Decrees

Proposed Supplemental Partial Final Decree

United States Statement of Claims

United States Technical Reports

Navajo Nation’s Discovery Responses

U.S. Government courtesy posting in relation to the Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement