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<br />'. I,'-'-""~. ., <br />~~_i~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />r <br /> <br />and Management Seminar of the Southwestern Water Conservation District, <br /> <br />basic principles underlying Indian entitlement to water often run counter <br />to those of prior appropriation. As he made clear, the Indian reserved <br />water right is created when the lands are originally set aside for Indian <br /> <br />use, and it has a priority date as of that time. Unlike appropriated <br /> <br />rights, Indian water rights, once created, cannot be lost by non-use, and <br /> <br />they are based on the amount of water required to fulfill the purpose of <br /> <br />the reservation. Also, while non-Indians may put to use water not already <br /> <br />being used by the Indians, when the Indians do utilize the water they <br /> <br />have the senior right to it and are not required to compensate other users <br /> <br />for any losses sustained by their exercise of what has actually been a <br /> <br />temporary entitlement. Nevertheless, the state courts have the obligation <br /> <br />to ensure the federally protected reserved water rights of the Indians in a <br /> <br />judicial setting usually bound by a different norm. <br /> <br />Scarcely any litigation of water disputes in recent history has <br /> <br />captured and sustained the interest of the Southwest to the extent that <br /> <br />Arizona v, California (373 U.S. 546 (1963); decree, 376 U.S. 340 (1964)) <br /> <br />has. Its importance to the field of Indian water rights lies in its intro- <br /> <br />duction of a standard for quantifying such rights. The broader aspects of <br />the case, which ultimately included as parties the United States, Nevada, <br /> <br />Utah, and New Mexico (owing to their interests in the waters of the Lower <br /> <br />Basin of the Colorado River System, pursuant to the Boulder Canyon <br />Project Act (45 Stat. 1057 (1928) l. are not being considered in this paper, <br /> <br />which focuses only on the matter of the water rights of the Indian reser- <br /> <br />vations concerned. <br /> <br />Of the five reservations (Colorado River, Fort <br /> <br />Mohave, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, and Fort Yuma), only the Colorado River <br />Reservation had been created by Act of Congress; the others owed their <br /> <br />6 <br /> <br />_to."::--- <br /> <br />. .- <br />~.--.-:;...~-' <br /> <br />.:. - . <br />-.-""--' -_...~ .... - -- <br /> <br />.".-':"': .. <br /> <br />. -" ~ .- <br /> <br />. " :_:"- <br /> <br />........ <br />