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<br />-2- <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />quantity of .Indian water claims. A review of the methods <br />which have been used to attempt to quantify Indian wateT <br />rights concludes the study. <br /> <br />I. Water in the West <br /> <br />A brief description of the water supply picture in the <br />western United States is necessary to give perspective to <br />the question of the quantification of Indian water rights. <br /> <br />Water is a scarce resource in the arid West, Early <br />American cartographers often referred to the region as the <br />"Great American Desert." Even including the wateT-rich <br />areas of the coastal states, states west of the lOath meri- <br />dian receive only about one-fourth of the rainfall which <br />11 <br />occurs in the East. - Yet 1975 per capita consumption in <br />the West was 12,4 times that in the East. ~/ <br /> <br />The amount of water available for use in the West is <br />finite. Some methods of augmentation, such as weather <br />modification and desalinization, have added slightly <br />to available water, while others, such as importation of <br />icebergs and massive interbasin transfer plans, offer theo- <br />retical but problematic possibilities for further increase. <br />Also, the western states are implementing conservation <br />measures to better use available water resources. Still, <br />absent some as yet undiscovered innovation in water development <br />