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I I I I I I 0962 Session f: Western Water Trends and Directions Apaches, to conserve and build for the future of our people. We were on headlines. I never read what it said, but we were so proud of what we did. After that, we built another lake and. another lake and another lake and another one and another one. We have 21 lakes, manmade lakes, on our reservation. Come, enjoy yourself, bring your children, your kids and fish and dance with us, sing with us. You are welcome on our reservation. And don't forget your money bag: we have a casino on the reservation. I I I I I I I I I I If you just so happen to know how to ski, we have tons and tons of snow yet. It will go all summer. If you have a pair of skis, go out there. In the summertime it's so hot over here, so doggone hot that you can't stand it. So, as a result, looking ahead, looking at those three or four directions there, we are going to build you one ofthe finest convention centers you ever saw. Come, let's have a meeting over there. I invite you, Commissioners, come to an Indian reservation. You will have the finest opportunity to ever visit, as a body, an Indian reservation. Perhaps maybe one of us will join you then and sit with you and talk with you about adjudication and Indian water rights. We love to talk about our water. Why? Because we own the water on our reservation. Elsewhere nobody owns it. I wonder why. We own ours-the White Mountain Apache Tribe. Now, who in the heck can contradict that? Who? The President of the United States? The United Nations? You? No, no one can. Water is tuu. It's a language that'my brother and I havlO!' It's the Apache word for water, the life blood of my people. It has sustained us from time immemorial. It nourishes and sustains the plants, the animals, and the ecosystem-to use a modern word-upon which we live and strive. We so happen to live on an aquifer that is called Coconino. Let's talk about the Coconino Aquifer. I'm sure it's on your agenda somewhere. It's right underneath my reservation and you have an industry just off the north side of my reservation. What are their names anyway-a big power producing industry? They are pumping water from the Coconino Aquifer. The hole must be very large, and they are using it. I I I Where does that power go to? Phoenix. We've been told that on the northern side of our reservation, in some places, there is a depression. What is going to happen when they pump up all the groundwater which lies under my reservation? The trees will no longer grow. Their roots only go so far. There's a mass pumping going on, and you talk about water rights. That's where water 41