Sen. Luján Secures $120 Million Release for Navajo–Gallup Water Supply Project

Sen. Ben Ray Luján announced March 16 that he had persuaded the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to release $120 million from the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, a basin-scale infrastructure effort that has been working toward delivering San Juan River water to the City of Gallup and surrounding communities since its authorization in 2009.

The release covers Fiscal Year 2026 and represents the culmination of more than a year of sustained pressure from Luján on the Bureau of Reclamation. In January 2025, Luján had already announced $120 million for Fiscal Year 2025 from the same fund, then used a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing to directly question Scott Cameron, Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, about why those funds had not been released. According to an AI-generated summary by Quiver CongressRadar, which carries a disclaimer that its model may make mistakes, Cameron said he was unaware of any funding holdup but committed to investigating further.

The legislative groundwork for the FY2026 release took shape over subsequent months. In March 2025, Luján advanced the Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments out of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, amending the project to ensure it had the resources and timeline needed to reach completion. In July 2025, he pressed Billy Kirkland, the nominee for Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, on his commitment to fund and complete the project. Then in January 2026, Luján secured an additional $55 million for the project in the FY2026 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill and raised the project's cost ceiling, a procedural step that allowed the Bureau of Reclamation to authorize the $120 million FY2026 release.

"Access to safe, reliable drinking water is a basic right and crucial for public health. That's why I'm proud to have helped secure $120 million for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. I'm grateful to Secretary Haaland and the Department of the Interior for their support," Luján said.

When completed, the project will deliver a sustainable water supply from the San Juan River to roughly 43 chapters of the Navajo Nation, the southwestern portion of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the City of Gallup, all of which currently rely on a rapidly diminishing groundwater supply. The project was first authorized in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which also settled the Navajo Nation's water rights in the San Juan River Basin of New Mexico.

Luján noted that the $120 million follows $137 million he previously secured for the project through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. "I previously secured $137 million for the project through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and I'll continue working to complete this project. This is an issue of living up to our trust responsibility to Tribes and delivering essential rights to Nations. This is a critical step forward and I remain committed to fighting for Tribes and Pueblos," he said.

Ranking Member Heinrich, whose quoted remarks in the source materials appear truncated, emphasized that communities across the region deserve the project's completion. "Communities in northwest New Mexico, the Navajo Nation, and the Jicarilla Apache Nation deserve water security and clean drinking water. I am committed to delivering the resources families need and deserve," Heinrich said.

An unnamed official in the source materials also credited the legislative coalition for enabling the release, thanking Senator Heinrich, Senator Luján, and Rep. Leger Fernández for securing specific language in the Continuing Resolution that made the funding possible.