Ceremony commemorates water settlement act

The gentle sounds of water trickling through streams all around the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa and adjacent Whirlwind Golf Club remind visitors of the important role water plays for the Gila River Indian Community.

In fact, water serves as a central theme for the entire 500-room resort and conference center, as well as the 36-hole, Gary Parks-designed golf course.

Water also is critical for the tribe's agricultural industry and its cultural heritage, according to tribal leaders who celebrated a landmark water settlement with other key players Tuesday at the resort just west of Chandler.

The federal Arizona Water Settlements Act was signed into law on Dec. 10, 2004, and fully enacted exactly three years later on Dec. 10, 2007. It had been more than 30 years in development.

The agreement settled a long list of disputes among the federal government, Arizona, New Mexico, local municipalities, the Salt River tribe, the Tohono O'odham Nation, utility companies, mining companies, businesses and agricultural users and other individuals who all claimed rights to scarce water supplies.

The settlement ensured that all users in central Arizona will receive guaranteed allocations of water. Furthermore, it established a uniform method for users to resolve future claims.

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., an attorney by training who brokered the complex agreement, said it was the most difficult piece of legislation he has been involved with during his 21-year tenure in federal office.

"The nice thing here was that everybody benefited," Kyl said after the ceremony.

The pact provided certainty for water availability to American Indians and non-American Indians alike.

It also resolved a long-running disagreement between the federal government and state government concerning nearly $2 million in repayments for construction of the Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile long system of aqueducts that channels water from the Colorado River along the California state line to metro Phoenix and Tucson.

A critical factor in the settlement was creating a method for users to market their unused water to other users, Kyl said.

Former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., carried the legislation through the House.

Attorney Rodney Lewis, who negotiated much of the deal on behalf of Salt River, said a stable, steady supply of water will transform the reservation.

"We'll make plans for now and into the future. We'll anchor our economy and allow Pimas and Maricopas to farm reclaimed land to make a living through their ancestral way of life, which is agriculture," said Lewis, a member of the Salt River tribe.

Tribal leaders plan to expand their cotton, alfalfa and grain crops from about 70,000 to 146,000 acres, and also expand into citrus production, he said.

The agreement pays tribute to the Hohokam people, who were the ancestors of both the Salt River and Tohono O'odham people, said the leaders of those tribes. The Hohokam farmed in what is now central and southern Arizona as early as 200 A.D.

"When we think about why we are here today, we have to think about those times and think of those people. They played a significant part of why we are here today," said William Rhodes, governor of Gila River.