WSPC02585

• File Number: 8064
• Description: Indian Water Rights
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 3/17/1997
• Author: Todd M Olinger
• Title: Summary of Indian Water 1997
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Session I: Western Water Trends and Directions

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move water around freely to the extent that no other water rights holder is
injured, No one pretends that this limitation in settlements is for the
protection of tribes or future generations ofIndians. Tribes, after all, are
capable of deciding whether, and for how long, to let their water be used by
others. To prohibit them from doing so leaves Indian water unused in many
streams, so that it can be used for free by non-Indians. At best, limits on
tribal water marketing are a ruthless means to attain an economic
advantage; at worst they constitute racial discrimination.

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It is surely time for tribes to consider profitable arrangements for getting the
benefit of their solid share of rights to western water, Leasing and
marketing can then be added to the tribal toolbox of options. This process
holds the potential to bring tribal economic experts and businesspeople to the
table to compete for the advantages and values that their resources hold.
But to make this option a'reality and to open the door to western water
markets for tribes, a basic inequity must be removed.

Isn't it also time to enact legislation allowing tribes the sovereign and
proprietary authority to lease their water for on or off-reservation uses for a
set term? Tribes have long had authority to lease their lands, subject only to
secretarial approvaL Why shouldn't water rights be treated the same way?

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Environmental Protection and Sustainability

The sorry state of the nation's rivers and aquatic systems is a notorious
tragedy. Much of it is the result of water uses and water facilities that were
enabled by laws and policies that allowed degradation of quality, damming
and other obstructions, and depletion of flows. The northwest salmon crisis,
for instance, was created by all these causes.

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For tribes, the ecological crisis caused by water pollution and development is
compounded. The fishing tribes have seen their economic livelihood and
cultural core destroyed. Reservations like Fort Berthold and others were
inundated for the benefit of the barge industry and irrigators far away. In
all, five of the Missouri River mainstem dams in North and South Dakota
destroyed 550 square miles of Indian reservations and displaced more than
900 reservation families. The Fort Peck dam in Montana displaced
350 families. So much water was drawn away from Pyramid Lake that its
legendary fishery, part of the Paiute's culture, was pushed to near-extinction.
In case after case, federal money was spent to 'subsidize non-Indian
development and wreak damage on Indian tribes.

It is in the tribes' interest to reverse this history of habitat destruction and
realize the potential of their resource base as guaranteed in treaties and
inherent in the nation's promise that they would have reservations that

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