WSP04842

• File Number: 8067
• Description: Section D General Federal Issues/Policies-Section 7 Consultations
• Date: 7/14/1976
• Author: Frank E Maynes
• Title: Federal Water Rights 1973-83-A General Discussion of the Federal Reserved Rights Doctrine
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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could not be. (citing cases) That the Government did
reserve them we hav~-decided, and for a use which would
be necessarily continued through years."

Amazingly no further cases concerning the Indians' reserved rights

were heard in the United States Supreme Court for 55 years. The case of

Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, 10 L.Ed.2d 542, 83 S.Ct. 1468

(1963) reiterated the Winters doctrine and upheld the right of the

Indian tribes along the Colorado River to use water, although these

tribes had never filed for prior appropriation within the state water

allocation framework. Arizona v. California, dealt with water rights

under the Colorado River Compact. Article 7 of the Compact provides

"nothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations

of the United States of America to Indian Tribes", and therefore the

case was decided outside the compact so far as Indian rights are concerned;

Arizona v. California had a broader effect than reiterating the

Winters doctrine of reserved water rights. First, it adopted a formula,

although it is not said to be the exclusive formula, as to the quantity

of water Indians are entitled to, The water rights were to be measured

on the basis of irrigable acres, that is, the Indians were entitled to

so much water as was necessary and practical to irrigate all reservation

land.

Second, and more importantly, the court upheld the Master's findings

that when the United States reserved enclaves of land unto itself it

also reserved the right to "water sufficient for future requirements" of

such federal enclaves. These federal lands would include natural forests,

wildlife and refuge areas, and recreational areas. In essence then the

reserved rights doctrine was expanded from water reserved at the time of

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