Navajo–Gallup Water Supply 

Project Newsletter

If you would like to learn more, visit our website at 

https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/navajo-gallup/.

2nd Quarter, Jan. 2023

Faces of NGWSP

Yá ́át ́ééh, shí éí Tódích ́íinii nishłí, 

Naakai Díne ́é éí báshíshchíín, Ma ́íi 

Deeshgiizhnii éí dashicheii, Tábaahí 

éí dashinálí

My name is Robert Kirk and I am 

a Principal Hydrologist with the 

Navajo Nation Department of Water 

Resources (NDWR). I am originally 

from Kinlichee, Arizona, and now 

reside in Rock Point, Arizona.

I have been with the NDWR-Water 

Management Branch since 1991 and 

have worked on numerous water 

projects across the Navajo Nation, 

focusing on regional domestic water 

projects for current and future uses.

The NGWSP is one of our primary 

projects that I have worked on for 

over 20 years. I am especially proud to 

have been part of this project, working 

alongside the organizations and 

numerous leaders that have advocated 

for it. 

With the Cutter Lateral already in 

operation, NGWSP is playing a critical 

role in addressing potable water needs 

for the 43 Chapters in the eastern 

parts of the Navajo Nation. Access to 

clean potable water is also critical to 

mitigate and fight the recent COVID 

pandemic on the Navajo Nation, and 

this is why the NGWSP is important 

and the completion of the project 

is a monumental priority. Water is 

a necessity to provide a permanent 

homeland for the Navajo Nation for 

future generations to come.

George Arthur’s Contribution to making the 

Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project drinking water 

a reality for the Navajo Nation 

By Becky Begay, Navajo Outreach Coordinator, Bureau of Reclamation 

I had the pleasure of speaking with former 

Navajo Council Delegate of 20 years, George 

Arthur, and discussing his history on the 

NGWSP while eating apple pie and drinking 

hot coffee on a cold winter day. I learned that 

George grew up in the community of Burnham, 

New Mexico, and became interested in water 

issues/rights as a child while working with his 

father. His father worked for the Navajo Nation 

irrigation department in the 1950s, and George 

would help his father measure flow and water 

use of unlined irrigation ditches. His father 

talked to him about the importance of water 

for local farming near their community, years 

before the Navajo Agricultural Production Industry (NAPI) was created from the 

Navajo Indian Irrigation Project. 

George worked on the Navajo San Juan River Water Rights Settlement Agreement 

for over 18 years, as well as the Navajo Utah and Navajo Arizona Water Rights 

Settlements. He spoke about how in the 1990s the late Navajo Nation President 

Albert Hale opened discussions to negotiate with non-native river water users 

throughout the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico to pave the way for the Navajo 

Water Rights Settlement. 

In 1991 George became active with the Colorado River Water Users Association 

(CRWUA), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides a venue for river 

managers and water users to discuss Colorado River management, covering 40 

million water users in the seven states and the ten tribes within the Colorado River 

Basin. He attended the first Colorado River Tribes meeting at CRWUA in 1992, and 

recalled how only a few Colorado River Tribes were allowed to attend meetings with 

federal partners at that time. He explained that those Tribes felt unheard and unable 

to voice their concerns on Colorado River Water Rights and water issues. Finally, 

the Colorado River Tribes formed the Ten Tribes Partnership in 1995, resulting in 

necessary representation of all ten Tribes. 

In 2011, George became the first Native American to become the president of 

CRWUA. He spoke about the many challenges of negotiations with non-native 

water users (lawyers), Department of the Interior, U.S. Congress, and the State of 

New Mexico. He remained persistent and determined to fight for the Navajo People 

in obtaining their share of Navajo water, which required attending many meetings 

over long days in multiple states for many years. He is one of the key contributors 

that helped get the Navajo San Juan River Water Rights Settlement in place, leading 

to congressional approval of construction of the NGWSP. We owe George Arthur 

a great deal of gratitude for his persistence and dedication in helping us achieve 

delivery of clean and reliable drinking water for Navajo communities and are 

thankful for his many contributions to this cause over the last several decades.
If you would like to learn more, visit our website at 

https://www.usbr.gov/uc/progact/navajo-gallup/.

2nd Quarter, Jan. 2023

By Moncef Tihami, Design and 

Commissioning Chief, Bureau of 

Reclamation

Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project 

construction activities are moving 

forward as planned with 267 out of 

the 300 miles of pipeline associated 

with the Project either installed, in 

construction, or under contract. 

● Most recently, the Block 4C-8 pipeline 

was completed in September 2022. 

● The San Juan Lateral water transmission 

pipeline is now installed from Little 

Water, New Mexico in the north, through 

Reach 13 and the Gallup Regional System 

in the south. 

● Pipeline installation has begun on the 

Navajo Code Talkers Sublateral between 

Ya-ta-hey Junction and Tse Bonito, which 

will eventually deliver drinking water to 

the Window Rock/Fort Defiance areas in 

Arizona, as well as the Rock Springs and 

Tsayatoh chapters in New Mexico. 

● Good progress continues with the 

construction on the Tooh Haltsooi (4) 

and Bahastl’ah (7) Pumping Plants in the 

Sheep Springs and Twin Lakes Chapters, 

respectively, which are expected to be 

completed by the end of 2023. 

● Reclamation awarded the Tsé Da’azkání 

(2) and Tó Ałts’íísí (3) Pumping Plants in 

the Sanostee chapter in September 2022, 

with construction beginning in spring 

2023. 

● Block 4A-4B, also within the Sanostee 

Chapter, contains 18 miles of 42-inch 

pipeline and is expected to be awarded 

in February 2023, with construction also 

starting this spring.

Reclamation held an Industry Day in 

November to gather input from water 

treatment firms on the upcoming 

design-build contract for the San Juan 

Lateral Water Treatment Plant. Over 

the course of 2023 and early 2024, 

Reclamation will qualify and evaluate 

design-build teams with plans to award 

a contract in the spring of 2024. The 

SJLWTP is expected to be fully built 

and delivering drinking water to Navajo 

Communities in western New Mexico 

and the Window Rock/Fort Defiance 

area, along with the City of Gallup, in 

2028.

By Pat Page, Bureau of Reclamation Construction Engineer (Retired)

The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project has a story to tell -- from the decades of 

negotiations between the Navajo Nation, the State of New Mexico, and the Federal 

government regarding the Nation’s water rights claims in the San Juan River, to the 

passing of Public Law 111-11 that authorized the Project, to the ongoing progress 

being made and initial water service to Navajo communities, to envisioning a future 

where the fundamental human right of a clean reliable water supply becomes a reality 

in this part of the United States. The story is not just intriguing, it’s vital to the longterm success of the Project to portray an accurate picture of its background, history, 

and purpose. With this is mind, the concept of making a documentary film about the 

NGWSP was born.

To help with this monumental task, in 2019 Reclamation enlisted the services of the 

Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico. NTU students, under 

the guidance of Assistant Professor of New Media Aanor Louis, and Reclamation’s 

Navajo Outreach Coordinator Becky Begay, began working on the documentary 

in 2020. To date, they have compiled hundreds of hours of construction footage, 

ceremonies, events, and numerous interviews of key individuals involved in NGWSP. 

It is a long, involved process spread out over several semesters, classes, and students. 

The documentary is still under production, but Reclamation and NTU are planning 

on completing it in 2023 and are hopeful that the film’s premiere will be sometime in 

the near future – maybe at a film festival near you! We will provide more information 

about where to watch the film when it is complete and ready for release. 

NGWSP DOCUMENTARY FILM

Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Update on Bureau of Reclamation Construction Contracts

Tank installation at Pumping Plant 4

Site Preparation for the Pilot Study Water 

Filtration System of the San Juan River

Ryan Gladden of Reclamation’s Four 

Corners Construction Office gets 

interviewed by NTU student Wade 

Shannah at Cutter Dam

Wall and roof installation at Pumping 

Plant 7