It’s a gray and snowy day in late winter at the Jemez Pueblo in north-central New Mexico, and Peter Madalena is standing on the banks of the Jemez River, a tributary of the Rio Grande.
Madalena says the river’s higher than it has been in recent winters thanks to more days like this one – filled with snow.
“It's a blessing that we're getting it because you're gonna have more water, and hopefully more people plant,” Madalena says.
Madalena, the Pueblo’s first lieutenant governor, is a lifelong farmer, like many at Jemez. The tribe, which doesn't own any casinos or large energy sources, is largely supported by farming, with corn and chilies being their primary crops. That means the community relies heavily on the Jemez River, which it diverts for agriculture.
“The crop from the seed up, as they say. We grow together,” Madalena says. “So that's what we're trying to protect here, the water.”
But that hasn’t always been easy.
Back in 1938, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas signed the Rio Grande Compact, which divided the Rio Grande Basin waters among the states. But Native tribes and Pueblos didn’t have a seat at the table, forcing them to negotiate settlements or file lawsuits, even though their rights predate all water users.
Paul S. Chinana, a five-term Jemez governor and a member of the Pueblo’s tribal water team, has been involved with negotiations since they started back in 1983. That’s when the U.S. government filed a case that claimed non-tribal communities were infringing on Pueblo water rights along the Jemez River.
“We've been having a lot of water shortages for as long as I can remember, and there were a lot of people that were moving upstream,” Chinana said, referring to the fact that as more water users – mainly homes and businesses – are built to the north, less water flows down to Jemez.
There’s another ongoing challenge impacting the amount of available water: drought.
“It’s just hard to get everything running normal like it’s supposed to run when there’s no water,” Chinana added.
Traditionally, the Pueblo’s growing season runs from April to October. But that window is getting smaller due to drought, so much so that some farmers are questioning farming's viability here, according to Michael Toledo, Jr., a three-term Jemez Pueblo governor and member of the tribal water team.
“This climate change has really made us even think harder. What can we do? How can we make these things work?” said Toledo Jr., whose crops were hurt badly by water shortages last year. “That’s the way it goes sometimes – it’s year by year. But it’s our way of life, we’ve got to take care of our own land and take care of what we have.”
The federal infrastructure bill passed in 2021 included $2.5 billion for Native American water rights settlements and to fund drinking water supply and infrastructure projects. So far, a number of tribes have already reached settlements, including some in the Mountain West.
The Navajo Nation, which spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, will receive more than $168 million, the Nez Perce Tribe in north-central Idaho will receive $6.7 million, and $3.3 million is headed to the Southern Ute Tribe in southwestern Colorado.
Last fall, the Jemez Pueblo moved closer to gaining greater water security. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) introduced two bills in the Senate, co-sponsored by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), to approve Pueblo water settlements: The Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna Water Rights Settlement Act and the Pueblos of Jemez and Zia Water Rights Settlement Act.
For Jemez Pueblo, the legislation would create a trust fund of $290 million for water-related projects and confirm the tribe’s rights to more than 6,000 acre-feet per year, or enough to cover 6,000 acres of land one foot deep.
“The settlements will provide critically needed funding for water infrastructure to develop and distribute new water to pueblo homes and businesses,” Sen. Heinrich said before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs last November.
But the Jemez Pueblo is still waiting for its water rights to be approved, the Senate bill's prospects in Congress muddied after Republicans took control of the House in January.
“I just hope that we get a settlement,” Chinana said. “It's always an upstream battle, and we're not there yet.”
Back on the banks of the Jemez River, Peter Madalena is thinking beyond the water the Pueblo needs to fill their fields this year.
“It's just part of our lives, and I think it's very important that we continue that livelihood, not just for us but for our grandkids and their kids way down the line,” Madalena says.
Breaking into a smile, Madalena says that's why he's glad to see the surrounding mountains covered in snow. And he’s praying for plenty of rainfall this spring, and for their water rights to be secured sooner than later.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This story was supported by The Water Desk, an initiative from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism.
Copyright 2023 KUNR Public Radio. To see more, visit KUNR Public Radio.