WSP00913

• File Number: 8272.600.60
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - Basin Member State Info - Utah
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 3/7/1975
• Title: Colorado Regional Assessment Study - Phase One Report for the National Commission on Water Quality - Part 2 of 2 -- Chapter VI - end
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Values, Preferences and Intentions
of Minority Populations who have
Control Over Water Resources in
the Colorado River Basin

This second problem area is closely related to the first, but because

of the size of the Indian population and Indian land holdings in this area

it deserves special attention. The Colorado Basin contains fourteen

major Indian reservations including the expansive Navaho reservation

and numerous small reservations. It is estimated that roughly 15 percent

of the Basin land area is Indian land, Recent emphasis on reservation

development by Indian Americans has precipitated an interest in Indian

water rights. Several important cases have gone through the courts

which have upheld Indian water rights. Since the legal implications of

these decisions is being assessed in the institutions section, the, focus here

is on the influence of Indian values and way of life on the utilization of

these resources. There are major conflicts raging 'on many reservations

concerning resources exploitation. On the one side are those who desire

Indian as similation into the American mainstream including an exploitation

of Indian-owned resources. These Indians seek to attract industry and

energy development to the reservation despite the concomittant influx of

the non-Indian, changes in the Indian way of life and disruption of tradi-

tiona1 uses of land. On the other side are those Indians who have main-

tained their special love of the land, and who desire to preserve the Indian

way of life. These individuals are not willing to exploit their natural

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