WATER POLITICS

Access to water, a concern around the globe, is constrained in many areas of the Colorado River Basin (CRB) by water scarcity, pollution and lack of delivery and treatment infrastructure. These constraints disproportionately affect the basin’s Native American, Hispanic and Black populations, groups which often have lower access to resources for mitigation and recovery. Moreover, these groups historically have not been represented in policy processes where key decision affecting water access and water quality are made. A number of tribal governments, in recent decades, have been at the negotiation tables due to their status as sovereign governments with significant water rights. However, there is no consistent process for inclusion of low-income communities of color in the basin. The urgent high-level dialogue among tribal governments, federal interests, states, cities and agricultural water users (and, to some extent, environmental NGOs) focuses on allocating the ever-scarcer waters of the CRB, with little emphasis on disproportionate access.