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<br />17 <br /> <br />"',:0636 <br /> <br />adjudicates a reserved water right of slightly less than <br />500,000 acre-feet for those tribes to irrigate just over <br />100,000 acres of land. <br /> <br />The Tribes' water right is also much larger than any <br />existing Indian water projects. For example, the Navajo <br />Irrigation Project can divert about 370,000 acre-feet to <br />irrigate 110,000 acres (although the Navajo Tribe may have <br />additional water rights). Each reservation's situation is, of <br />course, different. But by any measurement the right to divert <br />1,050,000 acre-feet to irrigate nearly 300,000 acres is, we <br />concluded, a very, very large right. <br /> <br />Most importantly, the 291,798 acres were determined <br />irriqab1e by Stetson Engineers, the Tribes' experts. These <br />include essentially all irrigable lands within several miles of <br />the Missouri River, and all irrigable lands in the watershed of <br />the Biq Muddy Creek on the Reservation, as well as most <br />irrigable la~ds within the watershed of the Poplar River on the <br />Reser'72tion. <br /> <br />B. WATER MARKETING AUTHORITY <br /> <br />(Article III, Sections K,D,E,F,G,I & J) <br /> <br />(1) Summary of Compact provisions <br /> <br />Discussion of the marketing authority provided in the <br />Compact most ~oqica11y begins with Article III, Section K. <br />Paragraph 1 of that Section authorizes the Tribes to transfer <br />the right to use water "within or outside the Reservation" to <br />the extent authorized by federal law. <br /> <br />No other provision of the Compact restricts marketing <br />within the Reservation, other than general requirements such as <br />that the use not be "wasteful", Art. III 0, and the overall <br />quantity limitations. Marketing on the Reservation i25thus <br />free from state regulatory or administrative control. <br /> <br />However, Paragraph 1 of Section K strictly prohibits <br />permanent alienation of any part of the Tribal Water Right, <br />either on or off the Reservation. Any transfers may therefore <br />be only for a term not to exceed 50 years. No sale of the <br />water right or any portion of the water right can ever be made <br />by the Tribes. <br /> <br />25The State agreed that the Tribes could do whatever water <br />marketing they wished on the Reservation if the diversions were <br />made within the Reservation. (Tr. Jan. 9, 1985, pp. 128-129; <br />Tr. Jan. 28, 1985, pp. 62-63.). <br />