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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among other things, that the Indian tribes are intended to be subject

to the effluent limitation and permit system. The ,EPA is retaining

NPDES jurisdiction over "Indian activities on Indian lands under the

jurisdiction of the United States. ,,37

In a more general vein, the issue of whether, and to what extent,

state and federal enviromnental controls apply to Indian reservations

is complex and can be expected to be subjected to ongoing litigation.

The United States Supreme Court has stated that "Indian tribes are

unique aggregations possessing attributes of sovereignty over both their

members and their territory, 38 and as "a separate people" have "the

power of regulating their internal and social relations. . . ,,39

In the ,case of Norvell v. Sangre de Cristo Development Co., 372

F. Supp. 348 (D.N.M., 1974), the Court held that the New Mexico Wa-

ter Quality Act applied to a non-Indian subdivision development on In-

dian lands. The Court reasoned that the state law did not infringe "upon

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the right of the Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them;"

moreover, federal water quality laws were not viewed as having pre-

empted the state water quality laws in this instance. 41 The case is

now on appeal to an appellate court.

In the end, the authority of Congress to regulate commerce with

the Indian tribes, 42 as well as interstate commerce, will probably be

found to be sufficient to impose reasonable restrictions on tribes to

obtain and enhance water quality, but the degree to which state controls

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