Garnett Querta puts on her gloves as she stops the truck she drove to a park. Within seconds, he uncoils a hose and turns on a hydrant, pumping water into tanks on the flatbed trailer.
He has timed. It will take five minutes and 20 seconds to fill a tank. Then it will fill the other. The water comes from underground and will be transported tens of kilometers through a rugged landscape to supply the approximately 700,000 tourists who visit the Grand Canyon every year on the Hualapai Indian reservation in northwestern Arizona. The tourism sector is the main source of income for the tribe.
The Colorado River runs through 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Hualapai land, but the tribe does not have access to its water. About a dozen tribes in the Colorado Basin are not allowed to drink their water. And now that the river’s flow is low because of too much water withdrawal, drought and man-made climate change, the tribes want the government to make sure their interests are protected.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of a series on the 100th anniversary of the historic “Colorado Compact,” a 1922 agreement that regulates the use of Colorado River waters. The series is a collaboration between the Associated Press, The Colorado Sun, The Albuquerque Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Arizona Daily Star and The Nevada Independent, exploring the pressures on the river in 2022.
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The Hualapai Tribe has an agreement with Congress that includes $180 million for infrastructure. But it might be a year before an aqueduct is built and river water reaches Peach Springs, the tribe’s main town, or the Grand Canyon West resort.
“It was the lesser of two evils,” says Phil Wisely, the tribe’s director of public services, referring to the settlement. “I don’t think we might have gotten anything more, especially now.”
The Colorado River can no longer supply all the water needed by the 40 million people in the West who depend on it and a $15 billion agricultural sector. The Bureau of Water Management (Bureau of Reclamation) recently mandated that the water supply be restricted and asked the seven Colorado Basin states to find ways to conserve more water.
The tribes were not allotted any water when an agreement was signed in 1922 allocating rights to river water.
On the Ute reservation, east of Salt Lake City, they have been negotiating for years how much water the tribe should receive.
Tribal leaders say they are tired of asking the government to protect their interests and complain that they have not been treated well.
“Until they start to address inequities and injustices, nothing can be addressed,” said Shaun Chapoose, president of the Ute Business Commission.
In a statement sent to the Associated Press, the Interior Department did not say how tribal rights, which are federal rights, will be protected as the river recedes. He stated that he is working with tribes affected by drought.
In the Hualapai reserve they have been obtaining water from the subsoil for years.
Querta’s job is exhausting, but he is well prepared to do it. He is analytical, quick and sets goals.
The truck takes a lot of wear and tear making multiple daily trips of almost 30 miles on dirt and gravel roads. The outside mirrors and rear glass are half loose, held in place by red duct tape. Any major vehicle repair or illness can put you out of action. He was unable to work for two weeks last year due to COVID-19 and no one replaced him.
“I didn’t care because I didn’t want anyone messing with my truck or my tanks,” Quert said. “I take care of the truck as if it were mine.”
The water it draws is sent by an aqueduct from Peach Springs to Grand Canyon West.
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Fonseca covers indigenous communities for the Associated Press team on racial and ethnic issues.
