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<br /> <br />38 <br /> <br />C()113') <br /> <br />Felipe, Santa Ana, Sandia and <br />Isleta) receive their water under a <br />contract between the MRGCD and <br />the Department of the Interior, This <br />contractual arrangement recognizes <br />the priority of Indian rights but has <br />nevertheless been subject to <br />numerous controversies between <br />the Pueblos, the district, the Bureau <br />of Reclamation and the Bureau of <br />Indian Affairs. <br /> <br />In addition to the adjudication <br />process, which will eventually clar, <br />ify the quantities of Indian rights in <br />the Rio Grande, Indian govern, <br />ments are also considering expand- <br />ing their water management role in <br /> <br />several ways. First, as their rights <br />are quantified and put to use, they <br />may assume new powers as <br />administrators of water rights and <br />managers of the water delivery sys- <br />tem. Secondly, under authority <br />recently granted by Congress <br />through three major water pollu- <br />tion laws, Indian tribes are to be <br />treated like states for the purposes <br />of administering these water quality <br />laws, These are the Clean Water <br />Act, which covers permitting for <br />discharges from point Sources into <br />surface streams and creation of <br />water quality standards for streams <br />generally, the Safe Drinking Water <br />Act, regulating public water sup- <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />plies and groundwater aquifers that <br />are the sole Source of drinking <br />water for public systems, and <br />Superfund, the emergency <br />response law relating to clean.up of <br />hazardous waste sites. <br /> <br />The accompanying map indicates <br />key problems that Indian govern. <br />ments have identified as affecting <br />their water rights in the upper Rio <br />Grande region, Resolution of these <br />problems may well depend as <br />much on the larger and still evolv. <br />ing institutional role of tribes in <br />water management as on the spe- <br />cific issues of each case. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br /> <br />Cachiti Pueblo farmlands immediately below Cochiti Dam-the darkened areas indicate high groundwater tables that <br />have made famling impossible. PHaro BY PAUL LOGSDON, <br />