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<br />0008J8 <br /> <br />--The United States reserved the water rights for the <br />Indians in the amount needed for purposes of the <br />reservation effective as of the time the Indian <br />reservations were created. <br /> <br />The Court also concluded that the Winters doctrine provided <br />that sufficient water was reserved for both the present and <br />future needs of the Indians for the purposes of the reserva- <br />tion. <br /> <br />Reservation for future uses constitutes a significant <br />departure from Western water law, which appropriated water <br />to those who first put it to beneficial use rather than <br />to those who owned the land. This departure has caused <br />considerable consternation among and opposition from the <br />States and non-Indian water users. Because there is no <br />well-defined measure of the amount of water reserved for <br />Indian and Federal uses and because these rights have not <br />been inventoried and quantified, the States and non-Indian <br />water users do not know how much water remains available <br />for appropriative use. <br /> <br />Quantification of Indian reserved water rights raises <br />many controversial issues. For example, certain Indian <br />attorneys have concluded that any quantification of Indian <br />water rights must be flexible enough to accommodate future <br />water uses necessary for economic development of Indian <br />reservations. State attorneys and officials, on the other <br />hand, feel that Indian water rights should be quantified <br />on the basis of uses reasonably foreseen at the time the <br />reservation was established. otherwise, they argue that the <br />magnitude of the water rights remains open ended and ever <br />increasing. <br /> <br />State officials are also concerned that the reserva- <br />tion doctrine does not provide compensation to existing <br />water users who may be adversely affected by Indian reserved <br />water rights. These officials believe that any solution <br />to the problem should include Federal compensation to <br />existing water rights holders who lose their rights <br />because of this doctrine. <br /> <br />The National Water Commission made a similar recommenda- <br />tion in its 1973 report "Water Policies For the Future." <br />The report recommended that the United States either provide <br />an alternative water supply to non-Indian users or, if this <br />proves infeasible, compensate previous users for impairment <br />of their rights initiated prior to the 1963 decision in <br />Arizona v. California. The report recommends the latter if <br />the previous users had no notice of the Indian rights at the <br /> <br />15 <br />