This bill extends deadlines and otherwise revises the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. This project was first authorized by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which settled the Navajo Nation's water rights in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico.
Specifically, the bill extends through December 31, 2029, the deadline for constructing project facilities.
The bill allows for additional project service areas, including by allowing the Navajo Nation to expand the project service area in order to deliver water supply from the project to Lupton, Arizona. The bill also sets forth criteria to authorize non-project water to flow outside of the project service area to Navajo communities in Utah.
The bill directs the Department of the Interior to take certain land into trust for the benefit of the Navajo Nation.
The bill also establishes (1) the Navajo Nation Operations, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Fund; and (2) the Jicarilla Apache Nation Operations, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Fund.