Navajo Nation takes treaty to Supreme Court amid water crisis: Media Miss

As the fight over the Colorado River’s water continues, the Navajo Nation has brought an 1868 treaty to the Supreme Court. Oral arguments began Monday.

The Navajo tribe says the treaty “promised both land and water sufficient for the Navajos to return to a permanent home in their ancestral territory.” According to the tribe, the country’s largest Native American reservation doesn’t have enough water, and approximately one-third of residents don’t have running water.

While the exact causes of the issue are unclear, the tribe says the government broke its promise to supply a sufficient amount of water. Navajo Nation has requested the Interior Department assess their water needs and build a strategy to provide more.

The federal government, as well as Arizona, California and Nevada, disagreed.  The government said it hasn’t violated any specific law or treaty, and the states said the Navajo tribe’s argument is invalid now that the Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes involving Colorado River water.

A decades-long drought has brought the river to historically low levels in recent months, with seven states in the western United States left disputing over the water. The states were supposed to reach an agreement on reduced consumption by the end of January, but failed because California held out, developing its own proposal.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was set to consider both proposals. The proposals are in addition to the Navajo Nation asking for evaluation regarding its water supply.

Straight Arrow News aims to identify when stories are being underreported on either side of the political aisle and media landscape. This story is a Media Miss for right-leaning outlets, with most sources reporting it being left-leaning outlets, according to Ground.News.