The state Legislature could still halt three proposed Indian water rights settlements by not funding them, but the results would be bad for a lot of non-Indian water users from Farmington to Santa Fe, State Engineer John D'Antonio told lawmakers Tuesday.

Maybe, said Albuquerque attorney Victor Marshall, who represents non-Indian irrigators on the San Juan River, but legislators need to understand the impact of the settlements on other water users before they approve millions of more dollars for the agreements.

D'Antonio and Marshall spoke to members of the Water and Natural Resources Committee at the state Capitol on the second day of final committee hearings before the January legislative session begins.

D'Antonio was before the committee asking for $13 million for the Indian Water Rights Fund for the Navajo, Taos Pueblo and Aamodt water-rights settlements. Aamodt involves the water claims of four pueblos in the Pojoaque Valley — Tesuque, Nambé, San Ildefonso and Pojoaque. The Legislature last year approved $10 million for the fund as part of the state's estimated $100 million share of the settlements.

The three proposed settlements finalize the tribes' claims on river water in New Mexico. Congress must approve funding for all three. The Navajo settlement has legislation currently before the U.S. House and Senate. Legislation for the Aamodt and Taos Pueblo settlements still haven't been presented to Congress.

The Navajo settlement is the largest of the Indian water-rights agreements, which settles the tribe's claims to the San Juan River in New Mexico. Thousands of non-Indian people, a major power plant that supplies electricity to cities including Santa Fe, and long-term contracts for San Juan water to Santa Fe and Albuquerque will all be impacted by what happens with the settlement. A pipeline to provide Gallup's future water supply also is part of the deal.

Marshall, who represents the San Juan Agriculture Water Users, said his clients oppose the Navajo settlement for a variety of reasons. They believe the settlement gives too much water to the Navajo tribe, doesn't fully protect the non-Indian irrigators and hasn't involved the irrigators in the settlement negotiations.

Plus, he said, the federal government is unlikely to come up with the estimated $900 million the state is asking the federal government to ante up for the three settlements. He said there will be no Navajo settlement in particular without the Gallup pipeline. "It is unlikely in the extreme that the pipeline will ever get built," he said.

But D'Antonio told legislators that New Mexico's congressional delegates are promoting the settlements in Washington, D.C. He also shared what he has said repeatedly: If the settlements don't happen, the tribe's claims will end up back in court anyway. And the tribes, especially the Navajo Nation, could claim more water than they do under the proposed agreements. "It rears its ugly head again because we'll have unsettled water rights. It just appears in a different manner," D'Antonio said.

New Mexico has 22 tribes and pueblos. The water rights of only one have been finalized in court. As the senior water-rights holders in the state, tribes have the ultimate ability to make "calls" on rivers and get their water first before anyone else in times of drought.

Contact Staci Matlock at 470-9843 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.