It took almost 18 years of negotiations to get there, but the end of 2020 brought passage of the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Act. The Salt Lake Tribune
reported that with Covid-19 ravaging the Navajo Nation where over 40% of Navajo homes in San Juan County have no running water, the House and Senate finally reached a bipartisan agreement to approve the Act. The Act was approved as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260, December 27, 2020).
The Act provides $220 million in funding for water projects in San Juan County, leading Tribal, State and county officials to strategize on how to implement the projects.
Woah, 40% of Navajo homes have no running water?!? 18 years of negotiations? This is unbelievable, but unfortunately believable at the same time. We should be hearing about this more prominently in the news. Does the average American realize over 2 million people have no running water? Water is something we take for granted as part of our everyday lives, and when Covid-19 hit, what were we told to do? Wash, wash, wash our hands. Yet we have Americans with no running water. I’m glad this act was able to pass.