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<br />o IJ 1 ~l :13 <br /> <br />McCarran Amendment or by the Federal Government. These adjudications <br /> <br /> <br />have proved to be both expensive and extremely time-consuming. <br /> <br />The Forest Service estimates that It has spent an average of <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />SI.7 million dollars a year over the last three years Identifying and <br />establishing federal water rights, mostly In connection with stream <br /> <br />adjudications. It expects those co~ts to Increase In the future; e.g., <br /> <br />It estimates that about SI million and 5 years of effort will be required <br /> <br />to Inventory and quantify Its Instream flow requirements In the case <br /> <br />pending In Colorado Water Division 4, 5 and 6 If lower court recom- <br /> <br />mendatlons are upheld. The costs the 8lM has Incurred participating <br /> <br />on this ad hoc basis have risen sharply from approximately SI.I <br />ml I lion In 1977 to approximately SI. 7 milt Ion In 1979. Furthermore, <br /> <br />the November 16, 1978 Report of the Comptroller General 23/ set forth <br /> <br />In detail the estimated costs of selected court cases Involving reserved <br /> <br />rights and reports that the Federal Government alone had spent to date <br /> <br />over S550,OOO on litigatIon Involving reserved water rights In Colorado, <br /> <br />S190,000 In pre-trial preparation for a reserved rights case In Arizona, <br /> <br />S3.5 million (excluding Department of Justice salaries and travel costs) <br /> <br />preparing tor a reserved rights trial In Nevada, and over S800,000 <br /> <br />on a reserved rights case In Washington. Few of these cases are anywhere <br /> <br />near resolution. The Colorado 4, 5 and 6 litigation was filed In 1969, <br /> <br />23/ Reserved Water Rlqht~ for Federal and Indian Reservations: A <br />Growlnq Controversy In Need of Resolution (8-167941), pp. 31-37 (here- <br />after "GAO Report"). <br /> <br />-23- <br />