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<br />OIJUlS9 <br /> <br /> <br />I I. THE NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND SYSTEMATIC FEDERAL APPROACH <br /> <br /> <br />The President has directed the federal agencIes to Increase "the <br /> <br />level and quality of your attention to the Identification of federal <br /> <br />reserved water rights," and to move forward with a program for establishing <br /> <br /> <br />and quantifying these rights. <br /> <br />Through the years since the Supreme Court expressly acknowledged <br /> <br />the exIstence of non-Indian federal reserved rIghts. the debate over the <br /> <br />Issues has remained highly theoretical. The Supreme Court has rarely had <br /> <br />the opportunity to address the subject, and In this vacuum the lack of <br /> <br />definitIon and quantification of federal water rights has gIven rise <br /> <br />to various rationales for asserting, denyIng. extending or lImiting <br /> <br />these rights. The Supreme Court has also never spoken completely <br /> <br />consistently or plainly on several key Issues In federal-state water <br /> <br />right relationships. especIally In Interpreting the 19th century statutes <br /> <br />which form the principal statutory basis for state water systems affect- <br /> <br />Ing the federal lands In the West. <br /> <br />The Task Force recognizes that part of the lack of forward progress <br /> <br />toward establIshment and quantification of the federal water rights has <br /> <br />been the lack of a comprehensive legal polIcy In the agencies to govern <br /> <br />their assertion. Some federal agencies are clearly ahead of others <br /> <br />In this regard; e.g., court decisions addressing Forest Service rIghts <br /> <br />have gone relatIvely far toward establishIng the contours of those rights. <br /> <br />The Task Force has therefore urged the agencies represented on It to <br /> <br />develop and publish comprehensIve statements explaining the scope and <br /> <br />," <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />'. <br /> <br />-19- <br />