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o lJ2,!J.j 7 F. . l\dmi.nistration of Federal Water Rights . 12. The WesteTIl States Water Council supports the Task Force decision that once federal water rights are quantified and adjudicated they should be subject to the administration of the state water right systems. The western states can also support the h,o exceptions identi- fied as (a) and (b) in the reconmerdation. / The western states do not, however, agree with the third exception, nor with the Justice DepartInent '5 recc:mnendation for deletion. The notion that federal officials should be able to determine whether or not there is ".. .manifest unfairness to the United States..." is absurd. In essence, the policy \vould result in the federal governme.;1t going its separate way any time a prudent and equitable decision was nude by a state administrator that fcund in favor of saneone that night be taking a position opposed by the federal goverrnnent, or any time a state administrator determined that in equity the distribution of ~Iater required less than a full all=ation of water to federal claims and rights. In fact, the idea is in=nsistent \vith the tenor of the Supreme Court's decision in U.S. v. California (New Helones). The United States should not be allcMed to follow state la\v only when it is =nvenient, and unilaterally avoid state law when it suits the federal purpose. The westenl states further contest the Justice Depart:rrent's recormendation and =nclusion that the entire idea should be dropped because the McCarran Amendment does not grant jurisdiction over the United States for adminis- tration of federal water rights. Although final decrees for distribution of water IlU.lSt =ne out of the ':adjudicatory process, as the Justice Department has stated, in the spirit of the President's armounced ccoperation with the .states, the federal governrrent should stand ready at ail tinES to help incorporate the reasonable rranagerrent of federal and non-federal rights in a COll1!rOn state system. G. Coordinating federal Expenditures Dependent Upon State l~ater Rights 13. The Western States Water Council supports 'fask Force reCCXll[llel)jenation 13. As with the expenditure of any funds fran public sources, -it is important that administrators invest them wisely. '111e conflict with potential federal reserved water rights has been a problem for rrany decades with regard to both the invesbnent of state and federal dollars as well as private dollars. The wise utilization of western water resources has been extremely inportant to the econDrlo/ of the \1est, and often the public interest is best served by a limited exercise of federal reserved rights. There rray be times in the future when fedeJ:al administrators will detennine that only a limited exercise of a given federal reserved water right is appropriate in view of the investrrent the federal governrrent already has in programs and facilities depero.ent upon the limited water resource upon which the federal claim could be made. -13-