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Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin 8.7. Contributory Problem #7: There is Pervasive Distrust Among Stakeholders The individuals, groups, and agencies with an economic interest in the Basin's water and related resources generally distrust one another. The three states continue their. long history of struggling with one another over the Basin's water. I' Those who currently control the water and other resources are fearful that the Native Americans' claims will deprive them of the benefits they have enjoyed for decades. The Native Americans are resentful that the federal government and others have expended large amounts of money to make water available for use by groups with a far more tenuous claim to the resource but has not exhibited a similar willingness to resolve their claims to water.'5 Environmental groups in the Basin often observe that the resource-management institutions pay little attention to their concerns about the environment and, although environmental groups in the Basin generally have not been as organized or assertive as in other regions, nonetheless their efforts frequently evoke resentment and suspicion. The agricultural community often expresses a lack of confidence in the science underlying much ofthe environmental policy, e.g., the Endangered Species Act, implemented by federal agencies. , ;} ~ f ~ Ii;. ~ :;: ;'.~ .,.; t:~ The stakeholders have little experience working cooperatively, with all the relevant interest groups at the table, to resolve major substantive issues. The consumptive-use stakeholders in Texas and southern New Mexico began working together to take a regional approach to resolving their concerns in the southern part of the Basin only through the settlement of a lawsuit, and nonconsumptive interest groups participate, if at all, from the sidelines. Meaningful cooperation among multiple parties to address the needs ofthe endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow was slow in coming until the diversion of all water from the river resulted in many deaths and the threat oflawsuit and severe penalties under the Endangered Species Act. :.,.:: r:-. ~:~ ". ';::.; ;-';'l ~~ '. >;; " The Rio Grande Compact came about only after farmers in Colorado and New Mexico diverted water at such a rate that Texas (and Mexico) often received none. The BuRec's original activities in the Basin, construction of Elephant Butte Dam and other aspects of the Rio Grande Project, were an attempt to ensure that water would reach Texas and Mexico. Even with the Compact. Texas was shortchanged by upstream users, and it sought redress through legal action that eventually reached the Supreme Court, which sided with Texas. Other litigation across state lines occurred over El Paso's access to groundwater in southern New Mexico. The parties vying for water and related resources in the Basin seem always to recognize that additional litigation is an ever.present threat. 15 Efforts to resolve Indian water rights seem lost in a legal nightmare. One adjudication has been underway for almost 40 years. In another, the parties have been waiting seven years for a federal judge to issue an opinion regarding a master's findings. 106 {i,' 1)(\07 ' 'J ......:10