WSP09929

• File Number: 8200.700
• Description: Colorado River Basin - General Publications
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 5/4/1979
• Author: Comptroller General
• Title: Colorado River Basin Water Problems - How to Reduce Their Impact - Report to the Congress of the United States
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

O()D8J~

tine they commenced development or if they did not reali7.e
supplies were inadequate to serve both Indian and non-Indian
users.

Justice Departnent officials conversely believe that the
Federal Governnent should not pay for rights it already owns.
One State official said that the transfer of water fron
existing users to satisfy Indian clai~s would destroy the
investments made by current water users. He believes a
more logical approach night be to co~pensate the Indians
rather than existing users for the loss of water rights.

Several Indian tribes in the basin are claiming Winters
rights to large quantities of Colorado River water orar~
claiming Colorado River water to satisfy claimed Winters
rights in other streams. ~hese tribes contend that the
Federal Government failed to protect their water rights
and has allowed the basin States to allocate their share
of the water to other users. Examples of Indian Winters
doctrine clai~s in the basin are listed in appendix VII.

The amount of Federal reserved
water r~~~Jains_is un~ertain

The reservation doctrine applied in the Winters case
was thought to be a special rule of Indian law as late as
1963 when, in Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546 (1963),
the Supreme Courtreaffirmed theVIability of the reservation I:
doctrine and specifically applied it to Federal reservations.
The Court upheld U.S. claims to Colorado River water and sone I
,
of its tributaries for use on non-Indian Federal reservations.

National forests, national parks, Federal rangelands,
military establishments, and fish and wildlife refuges are
examples of Federal reservations to which this doctrine
applies. These Federal reservations and federally owned
lands comprise the majority of the landholdings in the
Colorado River Rasin (60 percent in the Upper Basin and
52 percent in the LmJer Basin).

Depending on several factors, the amount of reserved
water for Federal lands could vary significantly. The
reservation doctrine reserves that anount of appurtenant,
then-unappropriated water needed to accomplish the purpose
of the reservation. The amount of Federal reserved water
for consumptive and nonconsumptive uses has not been iden-
tified. Although about 61 percent of all surface water in
the 11 Western StAtes originates on Federal reservations,
the Public Land Law Review Comnission's 1967 final report
indicated that less than 1 percent of all surface water
used in these States is used on Federal lands.

16