The Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes have been pushing for the federal government to uphold its water-related responsibilities for years. Now, Colorado legislators are jumping back into the fight.
Lawmakers in the Colorado House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution advocating for tribal water access Friday, during Ute Day at the Capitol. The resolution — which lists a series of longheld tribal water priorities and urges federal agencies to respond — awaits consideration in the Senate.
It calls on the feds to take action on everything from releasing frozen funding for tribal water projects to repair deteriorating federal water systems and improving access to reservoirs like Lake Nighthorse near Durango.
Lawmakers use resolutions to highlight priorities, but they’re nonbinding — they don’t require something to change, Senate Minority Leader Cleave Simpson, a Republican whose district includes both tribal reservations, said. His hope?
“That the federal government will pay more attention,” he said. “I guess it’s wishful thinking, but that’s what we can do at this level.”
The resolution, also sponsored by Democrats Reps. Katie Stewart and Julie McCluskie, and Sen. Dylan Roberts, spotlighted several water projects that have been waiting for federal funding or maintenance for years, urging the federal government to address the tribes’ water needs.
“The people of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe have been resilient since the start of our creation story,” Marilynn House, secretary of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council, said Friday at the Capitol. “The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has seen many victories. … We will continue to seek victory in all that we do in all of our present and future endeavors.”
The tribe was awarded federal funding to fix a failing water line that delivers drinking and industrial water from the Cortez Water Treatment Plant to Towaoc on the tribal reservation. But the Trump administration froze the funding, according to the resolution.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has also been trying for years to get the federal government to update a deteriorating federal irrigation system on the tribe’s reservation. Some of the canals and ditches date to the late 1800s, and today, only about 15% of the 175 miles of canals are classified as being in good condition.
It would cost tens of millions of dollars, $126 million by some estimates, to fully address the backlog of maintenance issues. The tribal government has been footing parts of the bill for years and is calling on federal agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to fulfill their responsibilities.
The Bureau of Reclamation awarded about $20 million in grants to the Southern Ute Tribe to repair the irrigation project, but those funds are also caught up in the federal funding freeze.
Immediately after his inauguration, President Donald Trump halted spending under a Biden-era law, the Inflation Reduction Act, to ensure that proposed projects fit the new administration’s policy priorities. The move affected water projects that had been awarded federal funding across Colorado and in the southwestern part of the state, where both tribal reservations are located.
The state’s resolution urged the federal government to release the promised funds to both tribes.
“The lack of infrastructure, poor stewardship by the federal government, and systemic constraints create barriers to the Tribes’ ability to develop their quantified and settled water rights, and, relatedly, their economies and communities,” the lawmakers wrote in the resolution, urging the Bureau of Indian Affairs to take steps by rehabilitating the irrigation project.
A steady stream of water leaks out of Butzbaugh Flume on Jan. 19, 2024, in southwestern Colorado. The flume is part of the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project. As part of the project’s main ditch, it carries water to hundreds of acres of irrigable land around the Southern Ute reservation and La Plata County. (Shannon Mullane, The Colorado Sun)This is the second time that Colorado lawmakers have joined in the call to action about the irrigation project. In March 2024, Colorado lawmakers passed a different resolution saying federal agencies under the Biden administration needed to do their part in addressing the cost of the repairs.
The past resolution didn’t spur much movement at the federal level, Simpson said. This time, members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation, like U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, are better placed to take action, he said.
Hurd, the Republican congressman representing the 3rd Congressional District, which includes both tribal reservations, serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and the Indian and Insular Affairs subcommittee. Hurd did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
“I think we have an ear today that we didn’t have two years ago,” Simpson said. “I’d cross my fingers that our current representation will advocate harder for the tribes.”
The resolution also highlighted water access challenges with the Animas-La Plata project, a dam and reservoir in southwestern Colorado near Durango.
Congress heavily debated the controversial project, eventually approving a scaled-down version. The final project limited the ways water could be used — for community drinking water and industries, not agriculture — and the amount of money attached for infrastructure. Now, it’s a multimillion-dollar project that has barely been used.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe can pull water directly from the Animas River, but the tribe has to construct pipelines to carry it farther into the tribe’s reservation. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Tribe is too far from the Animas River and the reservoir, Lake Nighthorse, to be able to use it at all.
State lawmakers urged the federal government to help the tribes access water in the reservoir.
“They certainly operate as their own sovereign nation, but they’re Coloradans as well,” Simpson said. “So it’s highly appropriate for the Colorado General Assembly to weigh in.”
Tribal officials spoke highly of their collaborations with state officials during the Ute Day events at the Capitol.
“Our tribe is fortunate to maintain a strong relationship with the state, one built on understanding, trust and collaboration,” said Marvin Pinnecoose, vice chairman of the Southern Ute Tribal Council. “Our combined purpose remains the same: to build a brighter, healthier and prosperous future for all the people.”
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