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<br />0527 <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the Congressional Research <br /> <br /> <br />Service prepared a report in 1976 entitled Water Resources of the Missouri River <br /> <br /> <br />Basin. Citing studies by the Bureau of Indian Affairs concerning water requirements <br /> <br /> <br />for seven Indian reservations in Montana and Wyoming, the Congressional Research <br /> <br /> <br />Service concluded that irr igable land on the Indian reservations averaged about <br /> <br /> <br />14 percent of total reservation acreage. Based on that average, they then <br /> <br /> <br />extrapolated potential Indian water requirements for irrigation in the entire Missouri <br /> <br /> <br />River Basin to be approximately 8.6 million acre-feet of water diversion a year, or a <br /> <br /> <br />depletion of about one-half that amount. To that, they said, allowances might have <br /> <br /> <br />to be added for other potential Indian water uses, although no estimate was provided. <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />Studies performed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs were also referenced in a <br /> <br /> <br />subsequent, 1983 report of the Western States Water Council entitled Indian Water <br /> <br /> <br />RiRhts in the West. The report also cited numerous other sources for its tabulation <br /> <br /> <br />of "potential claims" to Indian reserved water rights in 15 western states. The <br /> <br /> <br />sources included ". . . formal and informal state agency estimates of possible Indian <br /> <br /> <br />water claims, pUblished and unpublished tabulations and studies by the Bureau of <br /> <br /> <br />Indian Affairs, the Department of Interior and other federal agencies, documents <br /> <br /> <br />relating to litigation, negotiation and legislation of Indian water rights and 'at large' <br /> <br /> <br />literature" (WSWC, 1983, p. 21). However, the WSWC cautioned report readers <br /> <br /> <br />concerning variations in information gathering and estimating methodologies among its <br /> <br /> <br />sources. It also noted that for some Indian reservations no information, or only <br /> <br /> <br />partial information, was obtainable. <br /> <br />Potential Indian water claims were listed in the WSWC report for 19 of the <br /> <br /> <br />Missouri River Basin's 23 Indian reservations. Only the Kansas reservations, smaller <br /> <br /> <br />non-reservation Indian tracts such as schools and reserves, and off-reservation Indian <br /> <br />-33- <br />