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<br />OD328E <br /> <br />were protected. Master Rifkind further concluded that <br />"[a]l1 consumption of mainstream water'within a state <br />is to be charged to that state, regardless of who the <br />user may be."" <br /> <br />(b) United States Claims on Behalf of Five In- <br />dian Reservations <br /> <br />The Master further found that the reservation of <br />water was not limited to current needs but rather ex-, <br />tended to future agricultural and related uses. The res- <br />ervation of water was thus intended to be established <br />at the creation of the Reservations..It was not depen- <br />dent upon the acquisition of appropriative rights <br />under state law. Any other conclusion would subject <br />the Indians to a competition for water with the white <br />settlers. In competition with the whites the Indians, by <br />their lack of farming experience, would ,surely lose. <br />The Master found that result to be inconsistent with <br />the intention to convert the Indians to an agricultural <br />economy. Thus, in order to accommodate future <br />growtq on the Reservations the United' States in- <br />tended to reserve enough water to meet expanding <br />needs despite state water law."' <br />In determining the quantity of water reserved, the <br />Master settled on the now-familiar formula: the <br />United States reserved "enough water to irrigate all of <br />the practicably irrigable lands on a Reservation and <br />that the water rights thereby created would run to de- <br />fined lands. ".. <br />In reaching this conclusion, the Master rejected <br />other possible methods of determining quantity. He <br />specifically rejected attempts to tie the quantity to the <br />actual or expected number of Indians living on the <br />Reservation because if the water rights grew with the <br />Indian population the junior water rights would be un. <br />certain. Similarly, if the water rights were fixed to ac- <br />commodate present uses, the Indians' growth would be <br />stifled. Conversely, if the water rights were bued on <br />future predicted needs, a hazardous, and probably in- <br /> <br />The prior Special Master sustained the claims <br />made by the United States on behalf of the Indian <br />Reservations to the extent of approximately 900,000 <br />acre-feet of annual diversions of water from the Colo- <br />rado River." <br />The Master found that the United States has the <br />power to create a water right appurtenant to Reserva- <br />tion lands without complying with state law. Winters <br />v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 (1908). The reservation <br />of water rights is effective as of the date of the crea- <br />tion of the Reservation, without regard to subsequent <br />appropriative use. The Un,ited States may create such <br />a Reservation by Executive Order and effectively re- <br />serve such water rights". <br />An implied intent to reserve water rights for Indian <br />lands is sufficient. Such an intent is not difficult to <br />find for desert Reservations because otherwise the <br />land given the Indians would be virtually useless and <br />incapable of sustaining life. By this reasoning the <br />Master found an intent on the part of the United <br />States to reserve water for the five Indian <br />Reservations. .. <br /> <br />23. !d. at 247: <br />24. [d. at 257. <br />25. ld. at 257-59. <br />26. [d. at 259-60. <br /> <br />'J:1. I d. at 260-62. <br />28. Id. at 263 (emphasio added). <br /> <br />lO <br /> <br />11 <br />