Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025
Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025 This bill would modify an existing water supply project that was created to deliver water to the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and surrounding areas. The main changes include extending the deadline for completing construction of water infrastructure from 2024 to 2029, allowing the Navajo Nation to expand service areas to include the town of Lupton, Arizona, and establishing new rules for delivering water to Navajo communities in Utah. The bill also directs the federal government to transfer certain lands to the Navajo Nation and creates two new trust funds—one to help the Navajo Nation pay for operating and maintaining the water system, and another related to the Jicarilla (a neighboring tribe). The legislation primarily affects the Navajo Nation, residents of northern New Mexico and Arizona who depend on this water system, and the Jicarilla tribe.
It also involves the Department of the Interior, which oversees federal Indian lands and water rights. The bill is currently in committee and has not yet been voted on by Congress.
CRS Official Summary
Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025This bill extends deadlines and otherwise revises the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. This project was first authorized by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which settled the Navajo Nation's water rights in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico.Specifically, the bill extends through December 31, 2029, the deadline for constructing project facilities.The bill allows for additional project service areas, including by allowing the Navajo Nation to expand the project service area in order to deliver water supply from the project to Lupton, Arizona. The bill also sets forth criteria to authorize non-project water to flow outside of the project service area to Navajo communities in Utah.The bill directs the Department of the Interior to take certain land into trust for the benefit of the Navajo Nation.The bill also establishes (1) the Navajo Nation Operations, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Fund; and (2) the Jicarilla Apache Nation Operations, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Fund.
Latest Action
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.