Laserfiche WebLink
<br />6 <br /> <br />-. <br />f' <br /> <br />as of 1960 was approximately 1.0 million acre-feet. At Bluff, Utah, 150 miles <br /> <br /> <br />downstream, the figure was 2.0 million acre.feet.'4 The Navajo could claim rights to <br /> <br /> <br />all of this flow, and did so early in the NIIP negotiations.1S NIIP's authorizing <br /> <br /> <br />legislation specifies a diversion for the completed project of 508,000 acre-feet a year.16 <br /> <br /> <br />Testimony on the project discussed an annual consumptive use of approximately <br /> <br />250,000 acre.feet. 17 Assuming a total potential claim of 2.0 million acre. feet, a <br /> <br />~~ ;' <br />~ <br />f. <br />r <br />,t <br /> <br />,.. <br />t~' <br />:i~. <br /> <br />:.? <br />~ <br />~. " <br />'" <br />!:R <br />~ <br />:~.: <br /> <br />Reclamation, Department of Interior, Navaio Dam and Reservoir: Technical Record of <br />Design and Construction 1 (1966). <br /> <br />14San Juan.Chama Reclamation Proiect and Navaio Indian Irrigation Proiect: <br />Hearings on H.R. 2552. H.R. 6541. and S. 107 before the Subcomm. on Irri~ation and <br />Reclamation of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 87th Cong., 1st <br />Sess. 196 (1961 (hereinafter. House Hearing 1961]. The Animas River, the large, south- <br />flowing tributary to the San Juan, contributes the difference between the 1.0 and ::'.U <br />million acre feet. ~ Figure 1. Its average annual flow as of 1960 was believed to be <br />617,000 acre.feet. Id. <br /> <br />lsAlI the NIIP negotiations and consideration in Congress occurred before 1963, <br />when the Supreme Court established the Arizona v. California practicably irrigable <br />acreage standard for quantification. Thus the negotiators did not have firm authority for <br />the size of a Navajo claim. Only the Navajo made statements about having claims on the <br />entire San Juan River. ~ "Stenographic Transcript of Proceedings before the U.S. <br />Depanment of the Interior in the Matter of the San Juan.Chama Conference," March <br />27-28, 1951. (hereinafter. National Archives]. This transcript is pan of the materials of <br />the Office of the Secretary of the Interior in Box 3642 of the Central Oassified Files, <br />1937-1953, Record Group 48, File Number 8-8. After 1963, potential Navajo claims <br />became enormous, in addition to being prior. The Navajo reservation is 15 million acres, <br />and if only a small portion of it were deemed practicably irrigable, the claim on San <br />Juan water easily reaches the entire flow. See. e.g., Getches and Meyers, 'The River of <br />Controversy: Persistent Issues," in New Courses for the Colorado River: Major Issues for <br />the Next Centurv 51 (G. Weatherford and F. Brown, eds., 1986) and W. Back and J. <br />Taylor, "Navajo Water Rights: Pulling the Plug on the Colorado River?" 20 Natural <br />Resources Journal 71 (1980). <br /> <br />16NIIP Act, ~ note 1 at Sec. 2. <br /> <br />l1The 1957 Supplement to the 1955 Feasibility Repon prepared by the Bureau of <br />Indian Affairs on NIIP actually mentioned 281,800 acre.feet of consumptive use for a <br />completed project. H, Doc. No. 424, 86th Cong., 2d Sess. 275 (1960). The Feasibility <br />Report itself skirted the issue of total consumptive use for the project. ~ rd. at 324. <br /> <br />i:' <br /> <br />f', ~, <br /> <br />" <br />~'^t <br />"" <br />~; <br />~ <br />~q <br />lt~ <br />~ <br />~ <br />h.;; <br />~ <br />'S>' <br />.~ <br />!... <br />r~~i. <br /> <br />.,"'. <br />