WSPC02017

• File Number: 8200.700
• Description: Colorado River-Colorado River Basin-Colorado River Basin General Publications
• Date: 1/1/3000
• Title: Colorado River Documents and Major Events-Sparks Synopsis-July 1976-Issue No 5-Federal Reserved Water Rights-As Published in the Federal Register 7-25-77
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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ISSUE NO. 5
FEDER.U RESERVED WATER RIGHTS
(As published in the Federal Register

Statement of the Problem

A judicially created doctrine established by seVeral Supreme Court decisions

generally recogn!zes that when tha United States establishes a Federal re-

servation such as a national park, forest, wildlife refuge, or trllitary

installation, at least as. early as the date the reservation was established,

a sufficient quactity of unappropriated water is reserved to accomplish

the PU=?OSC3 for '.hieh the land ...-as reserved. What is most significant .':ith

respect to Federal reserved water rights is the fact that the large amocnts

of water necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the reservation was

created h~ve not been quantified. Lack of quantification of Federal reserved

water rights presents probl~ for both Federal and non-Federal water re-

source users aLd developers because it conflicts .~th the water la~ doctrine

of appropriation which developed as the western States ~~re created frcm

the public domain. The co~.ir. of ~ppropriation is not based on the o.~er-

ship of the land by or over which the water fl".;s but rather on the physical

. appropriation of water and it'S application to a beneficial use. As between

c~eting appropriators, the one first in time is first in right. and the

measure of the appropriative dght is the amount of water which ts actt.al1y

apP1iedto a beneficial use. This doct~e was sanctioned bT the Desert

Land Act (43 U,S.C. 321) wherein Congress declared th:lt"... all s'lrplus

water... upon the public lands and :lOt navigable. shall re:;:ail1 and be ::teU

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