U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox join Jonathan Nez, the president of the Navajo Nation, and Doreen McPaul, the Navajo Nation Attorney General, to sign a federal reserved water rights settlement agreement. The agreement recognizes and protects the reserved water rights of the Navajo Nation and will bring clean drinking water to the Navajo people in Utah. Negotiations have been underway for 18 years.
- The settlement recognizes a reserved water right of 81,500 acre-feet of water for current and future use by the state of Utah.
- The federal government will pay the Navajo Nation over $210 million and the state of Utah will contribute $8 million toward drinking water infrastructure on the Navajo Nation.
