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Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin conditions. Disputes outside an established watermaster area are handled though the TNRCC's complaint system. As of June 1995, the Upper Rio Grande above Ft. Quitman is the only river segment that remains unadjudicated. In the summer of 1994, however, adjudication procedures began in this area. 2. Beyond the States: Indian Rights, Federal Rights, International Treaty, and Interstate Institutions Water in the Upper Rio Grande Basin is governed by more than just the laws of the individual states. Of particular importance are the Basin's Indian tribes, the U.S.-Mexico Treaty of 1906, the Rio Grande Compact, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), and the New Mexico/Texas Water Commission. Also important are almost countless federal laws and many federal agencies. For the most part, these play roles in the Basin that are not unlike their counterparts in other western basins, but there are some distinctive differences. We discuss each of these features ofthe broader legal and institutional landscape individually. " Indian Water Rights and Laws. The Reserved Rights Doctrine, first announced in Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 (1908), generally says that, when the federal government set aside lands for Indians, it also reserved for the Indians the water, then unappropriated, that was appurtenant to the lands and to the extent necessary to accomplish the purpose of the Indian reservation. The Doctrine also recognizes an Indian tribe's inherent authority to reserve rights not divested by Congress. The sovereignty ofthe Pueblos differs somewhat from that of tribes elsewhere in the U.S., however, insofar as they had existed in their current location for centuries and their sovereignty was acknowledged by the Spanish and Mexican governments before the Basin was incorporated into the U.S. Thus, some Pueblo Indian water rights predate the reservation date. 1",: F; ~ ~"~ <~Si i~' :~^' 1:-, ,,. .',-'; Indian water rights are property rights subject to federal and tribal laws, not state laws except insofar as state courts quantify, award, and administer those rights. Consequently the "use it or lose it" stipulation of state water laws does not apply to Indian water rights and Indian water rights may fluctuate as to the time, location, and amount of water diverted. The tribes can exercise their rights, however, only insofar as the federal government has secured their adjudication by acting as the trustee for the tribes. Hence, the full extent of reserved tribal water rights remains unknown, but many ,_.;. ~~ ~<' ".).- .;-~ ..-:-' ::j~ 20 (. ~.. 2~) 0 0 ;::.s' I.,;;, .;t:,