WSP02305 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I REGIONAL ECONOMY WITHOUT PROJECT industry of the Reservation is agriculture. In the Arizona v California decision, a Special Master appointed by the Court concluded that open-ended decrees would put all junior water rights in jeopardy and severely hamper financing of irrigation projects because the population and needs of the Reservation could change. The Special Master determined the future needs of each Reservation would be determined on the basis of the amount of Reservation lands that were practicably irrigable. Under the Practicably Irrigable Acreage (PIA) test, lands and associated water supplies must combine to create an economically viable and sustainable agricultural operation. The Indian reserved water right was defined to be the amount of water required to carry out such irrigation, with the priority date of the right being the date of the Reservation establishment. Other Court decisions relating to trust responsibility of the United States to protect Tribes' rights to use Reservation lands has placed the United States in the position of insuring that Tribes have a water supply that will allow the Reservations to be developed for agricultural purposes. POTENTIAL IMPACTS The initial approach in evaluating the potential impacts of not constructing ALP was to identify what the alternatives were for each of the principal beneficiaries in developing a water supply comparable to the supply th"y would receive from ALP. However, this approach is not fully conclusive because, if ALP is not constructed, there may not be, in all cases, an alternative for developing a like supply for all uses, particularly for non-Indian irrigation and rural municipal and industrial (M&I) supplies. In view of this possibility and based on available information within the scope of this effort, the evaluation of the potential impacts of not constructing ALP focused on three main areas: (1) Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement; (2) City of Durango M&I water supply; and (3) San Juan Water Commission M&I water supply. The potential impacts for these three areas are described below. 3-3