GRIC celebrates 19th Annual Water Rights Day
GRIN Staff
Gila River Indian News
Hundreds gathered at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass on Friday, Dec. 8, in celebration of the Gila River Indian Community’s 19th annual Water Rights Day honoring the landmark 2004 Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act. The official GRIC holiday commemorating the day is on Dec. 10.
“The Community’s Water Rights: It means not just one day, it means dedicating yourself and celebrating our ongoing connection to our water, to the Gila River, every day,” said Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis.
Veterans from posts throughout GRIC — including the First Nations Warriors Society, Ira. H. Hayes Post 84, Haskell Osife-Antone Post 51 and the Pee Posh Veterans Association — started off the event with the posting of colors.
Miss Gila River 2023-24 Mavis Thomas and Jr. Miss Gila River Eleanor Lynch recited the pledge of allegiance followed by a traditional song and blessing by former Lt. Gov. Robert Stone.
Guest speakers included U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael L. Connor and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.
Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project (PMIP) Public Involvement Specialist Kristina Morago gave a presentation on PMIP and the water rights history.
Morago urged everyone to embrace that history and “appreciate what we have every day: the shudag, the water.” She added that as “good stewards of our shudagi, our land, our jeved,” people should know and recognize the holiday.
The celebration acknowledged GRIC leaders and the negotiating team for their hard work and legacy that contributed to the settlement, including former Lt. Gov. Cecil Antone; the families of late former governors Dana Norris Sr., William R. Rhodes and Mary V. Thomas; and the late Rodney B. Lewis, former GRIC general counsel.
Gov. Lewis and District 4 Council Representatives Jennifer Allison and Nada Celaya presented the honorees and family members gifts of artwork created by Community artists Paul Molina and Aaron Sabori.
“It’s my honor to be here as I’ve been coming to the Water Rights Day every year, just because it’s a great time for us to rejoice and understand our cultural history,” said former Lt. Gov. Antone. “Our water [rights] settlement day, it says a lot because of our culture and our history and the people that fought so valiantly and hard to continue our culture and to preserve all the necessary things that we need for our future generations.”
Gov. Lewis concluded the event by sharing the continued work and success of the Community.
“We’ve had some incredibly major accomplishments in protecting and advancing our water rights,” he said. “We’ve developed the Community’s first five-year water plan, which ensures that we are looking forward and being proactive rather than reacting.”
Gov. Lewis also highlighted the Community’s Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) program which has provided innovative ways for the water to be used and restored.
“The MAR program is a nod to our history and highlights that innovation that made us the first irrigators of these lands thousands of years ago since time immemorial,” he said, adding, “The waters have brought back an ecosystem… to our Community that has been lacking for so many years.”
This year, the GRIC broke ground on many water conservation projects funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law including the reclaimed water pipeline project that will allow the Community to use a portion of water more flexibly while conserving water in Lake Mead during the historic drought.
“None of these projects would have been possible without those who negotiated our water settlement, without our federal partners,” said Gov. Lewis. “We have made great strides in these last 19 years. So today, I remain grateful for our ancestors, those leaders before us.”
