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Q ,., ~ '. N M c Tribes got CAP priority' with pleas in Washington' ' When water is available be- yond that required for Indian and non-Indian municipal and induS- trial allocation, it will go to non- Indian farmers, During years of Colorado Ri~r water shortage, .. the Interior Department or- dered, Indian and non-Indian municipal and industrial users share a first priority. Re- ductions will be proportional, Andrus based on the amount of water actually delivered in the last non- shortage year. "__, _ Reductions in water to the- eight reservations getting home- lands allocations will occur only after cuts to the five Indian tribes getting irrigation water, The Gila River Indian Reserva- tion, which has the largest Indian allocation, also will have the largest reduction - 25 perceftt. The reduction for the other foUr reservations receiving irrigation water, San Carlos. Papago Chui Chu, Ak-Chin and Salt River will be 10 percent each, ' Indian reservations also are excluded from two limitations imposed on farmers on non- Indian lands. First, farmers on non-Indian lands cannot use CAP water on land that does not have a history of irrigation between 1958 and 1968. " The state's Groundwater M....- agement Act said the land aTBo must have been irrigated between 1975 and 1980.' Indians can use CAP water to irrigate anywhere on their reser- I vations, regardless of whether the i land has a history of bei;;'!i , irrigated. ' ^ , Second, farmers on non-Indian i lands must forgo pumping "lib 'acre-foot of ground water 'fllr each acre-foot of CAP water received. Indians can pump all the water they want, regardless of the amount of CAP water they receive. ~ One major complaint :Of some Arizona Indian tribes is that when it comes \to water, they have been treated unfairly, They took their com- plaint to Washington and got the ear of Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus, who in 1980 de' clared this would not happen. in the operation of the CenQ;1'1 Arizona Project.'" When Andrus distributed ~e CAP supply, he ordered that'ln times of Colorado River short- ages, supplying water to Indian farms would have the same priority as supplying non-Indlllll: cities and towns. . In addition, Andrus alloca~ CAP water to eight reservations for what he called tribal home- lands. He gave the homelands water an even higher priority, Non-Indian farmers have the lowest water priority. Andrus allotted 309,828 acre- feet of CAP water each year to 12 Indian reservations. This includes 54,428 acre-feet of water per year for homelands and 255,400 acre-feet per year for irrigation on five reservations. The San Carlos Reservation wlis given both types of allocations; Homelands and irrigation water can be used for any purpose, including agriculture. The non-Indian municipal arid industrial allocation is 640,000 acre-feet of water per year.,..,.' including water expected to be used someday for the production of electricity.