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

Environmental Management and the Effects of Water Use
Chelsea . Congdon 18

I was asked to talk about environmental management and its effects on
water use; and specifically the effects of environmental water issues on tribal
water management. I would like to communicate that all of
us-conservationists, tribes, policy makers-need to think creatively, in our
work and our recommendations, about ways to respond to the revolution that
David Getches described. I'm not a lawyer so I can't give you the background
on different cases or settlements, but there are some that I will use, or refer
to, to illustrate some of my points. But first, I would like to begin with an
observation that echoes David's comments: that we are now looking at
western water policy driven by an entirely different set of concerns and
priorities than first eXisted when the institutions and agreements for
managing water resources were created.

In those days, simply put, the development of western water by the Federal
Government was seen as essential to enticing settlers, non-Indians, to the
. West. Today, the focus is on managing water resources to meet increasing
and competitive demands for water in an environment where water is scarce,
and where all water users and uses are, in fact, interdependent.

Environmental water needs are relative newcomers to the water policy
arena, and unfortunately, they are often seen as a competitors to the
reliability and certainty of consumptive water uses. For some tribal users,
who have not yet had the chance to fully develop or-in some cases-quantify
their water rights, environmental water needs are seen as an obstacle to the
achievement of tribal equity; both under tribes' treaty rights and under their
goals of self-determination that are associated with resource-based
development.

Seeing these environmental issues and other issues as opposed is not, I
think, constructive. If possible, in most cases we should create situations
where we don't have to choose between the Endangered Species Act and
treaty rights. In the issues that surround the development and settlement of
tribal water rights and the protection and restoration of aquatic ecosystems,
we can find ways to not be at odds. Environmental water and tribal water
are now among the most defining and significant components of
contemporary water policy.

Given the economic and political context that we face today, it's critical that
tribes, conservationists, and the people working on policies to resolve these

18 Water Resources Analyst at the Environmental Defense Fund in Boulder, Colorado.

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