Norm DeWeaver, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (Retired)
The 2015 WRRC Conference was unique, unique in several ways.
For the first time in a decade the theme was tribal water, Indigenous Perspectives on Sustainable Water Practices. Even though tribes hold or have unquantified claims to a very significant amount of the water resources within the boundaries of Arizona, tribal water has never before been front and center in the numerous water forums held year in and year out. This time it was.
Tribal people were successfully managing water resources in an arid environment for millennia before non-Indian settlers arrived. They were the first. First in time, first in right, the mantra of Western water law, should give tribes prominence in every water conference. Until now that hasnt been the case.
Even more unique, the major message from the 2015 WRRC Conference was that water has value -- value in human, cultural, and spiritual terms, not just in economic terms. From Mr. Bucky Preston of the Hopi Tribe in an opening session to Ms. Janene Yazzie of the Navajo Nation during a closing session, tribal speaker after speaker stressed the special place of water in their individual tribal cultures. Water is life they emphasized over and over again.
The experience over the last century-and-a-half of the host Gila River Indian Community dramatically demonstrated what water means to the lives of not just tribal people, but all people. It was a valuable message almost never heard in the many discussions of water in Arizona. It is an even more vital message in this time of shortage.
The 2015 WRRC Conference set a precedent, hopefully one that will be followed in the many conferences to come, as Arizona deals with its water future.