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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />0690 <br /> <br />LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE WATER TASK FORCE <br /> <br />PRELIMINARY DOLORES PROJECT WA'rER DEVELOPMENT PLAN <br /> <br />The Water TaskForce Plan for the development of the Dolores <br />Project Water is recommended from a legal standpoint because it helps <br />the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe deal with two (2) important problems: <br />quantification of their water rights and development of projects that <br />will put that water right to beneficial use. <br />The Tribe, like most tribes, has reserved water rights under the <br />Winters Doctrine. This doctrine says that tribes have the right to <br />enough water to fulfill the purpose of ther reservations (usually <br />agriculture), and that the priority of that water right dates back to <br />when the reservation was established. The amount of water so reserved <br />has been defined as enough water to irrigate the "practically irrigable <br />acreage" of the reservation. <br />The Winters Doctrine has created two basic problems for tribes. <br />One, how does the tribe determine the amount of water to which it is <br />entitled, i.e., quanitification; and two, how does the tribe develop <br />some means of taking and using water, so that it can take advantage <br />of its water rights. Both of these problems have involved tribes in <br />litigation, negotiation, and participation in federal water projects <br />like the Dolores and Animas-La Plata projects, <br />The Water Task Force Water Development Plan is a legally sound one <br />because it addresses both these problems. The first problem, quantification <br />of the water right, is addressed by the recommendation that the Ute <br />Mountain Ute Tribe hire independent engineering experts. Both the B.I.A. <br />and the State of Colorado will be doing their own quantification studies <br />for the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The amount of acreage on the <br />reservation considered practically irrigable (and therefore, the amount <br />of water to which the Tribe is entitled) can vary depending on how these <br />studies are conducted. It is very important that the Tribe have its <br />own independent engineers to reveiw these studies and to ensure that <br />the Tribe's water claim is as large as possible, All litigation or <br />negotiation regarding the Tribe's water rights will depend on the <br />quantification amounts from these studies, 'rhe Tribe will need its <br /> <br />-1- <br />