Water Celebrations

In some cultures, the medium of exchange is cows or other animals, and one's wealth is determined by the size of one's herd. In Arizona, one symbol of power and wealth is water, the lifeblood of the desert. (Should I mention here that the very first event to which I was escorted by The Mister - can I call it a date? no - was a past FFA state officer's dinner where the featured speaker thrilled us with his long dissertation on water law? I didn't understand a thing he said; no doubt I was dazzled by being in the company of The Mister.)

No wonder then, that the Gila River Indian community is celebrating and declaring today a paid holiday for all the workers on the reservation. This AZ Republic article explains:

It's Gila River Water Day on Saturday on the Gila River Reservation, a new holiday that honors the largest tribal water settlement in U.S. history.

But the tribe will be honoring the holiday today, in the same way that the federal government recognizes weekend holidays on a Friday or Monday.

The Gila River Indian Community holiday, which will be observed annually, commemorates a federal water settlements law signed last December by President Bush.

The signing of the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004 meant that after decades of lawsuits and negotiations, the Gila River community had established its right to a major supply of water.

"The act settles in perpetuity the community's historic water claims," said Gary Bohnee, the spokesman for the community.

The federal law guarantees the community 653,500 acre-feet of water each year. The water will come from the Central Arizona Project canals and Gila, Salt and Verde rivers.

The reservation's main tribe, the Pimas, call themselves Akimel O'odham or "river people" because they have lived and farmed along the Gila River for hundreds of years. They began losing the river water about a century ago to upstream dams.

All Gila Community employees have a paid holiday today in honor. A celebration for the community is planned Saturday at the Huhugam Heritage Center on the reservation. At the ceremony, more than a dozen subagreements will be signed, such as those specifying water claims between the community and Salt River Project, Florence, Safford, Roosevelt Conservation District and other municipalities and groups.

The community also had a two-day celebration in April to celebrate the water settlements. The Community Council voted unanimously then to declare Dec. 10 an annual holiday, Bohnee said.

Now, navigating water law is like going through one of those cornfield mazes at Halloween: you run into plenty of dead ends before you find a way through. And coming out the other side of the water law maze, at least, you will find many people that are dissatisfied with the process and the result. That's why it's taken so very long to come to an accord. The Mister's older brother, an attorney, has been heavily involved over the years, and is widely reputed to be an expert on water law; he could explain the issue from all sides of the spectrum, though I'm not sure I could understand it today, 26 years later. In any case, the agreement has been reached, and the celebration is on for the Gila River Indian community.

The First Cousin will be attending the signing tomorrow in her official capacity as a board member of the Roosevelt Water Conservation District. She's been on the board for nearly a year now, and has learned a lot as well as offered much to the board. Maybe there will be some pictures of the event that I can share later.