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<br />, <br />, <br /> <br />0437 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />From Western Resources Wrapup <br />Washington, D. C. <br />1-18-73 <br /> <br />INDIAN WATER RIGHTS CONTROVERSIES <br /> <br />There are about a dozen Indian water rights controversies through- <br />out the country. The most interesting involves the effort of the Wind <br />River Indian reservation in Wyoming to get Interior Secretary Rogers C. <br />B. Morton to approve its inventory for present and future uses of water <br />for agriculture. mineral development. tourism and other municipal and <br />industrial uses. Boysen reservoir is a focal point for the storage of <br />the reservation water. Morton has never acted upon the Wind River <br />inventory, although it has been before him for approval for a year, <br />according to sources in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. If he did approve <br />it, BIA attorneys feel it would be a subtle extension of the Winters <br />doctrine from use of water to irrigate land to use of water for a wide <br />range of purposes on Indian reservations. The decision of the U.S. <br />Supreme Court in the Winters vs. United States case in 1908 turned on <br />the use of water on Indian reservations--specifically on the Fort <br />Belknap reservation in Montana-to irrigate crops. Political pressures <br />have kept Morton from approving the inventory for the Wind River reser- <br />vation. <br /> <br />Several Indian water rights cases are before either the courts or <br />administrative agencies which involve. in one way or the other. the <br />loss of Indian water through upstream diversion, pumping the underground <br />water supply or failure to deliver water under contract. They include <br />the famous Pyramid Lake case in Nevada involving the Paiute Tribe, the <br />San Luis Rey river controversy in California involving the Mission <br />Indians, the Safford Valley controversy in Arizona over the Gila River <br />brought by the San Carlos Reservation Indians, the Shoshone Duck Valley <br />reservation on the IdahO-Nevada border. and three cases in Washington <br />involving the Spokane, Lumrni and Colville Indians. <br /> <br />The Pueblo Indians have sought a quantification of their water <br />rights on the Rio Grande. and the Southern Utes and Ute Mountain Utes <br />in Southwestern Colorado likewise seek a quantification of their water <br />rights on all of the tributaries of the San Juan river in Southwestern <br />Colorado. These cases are in court. The future of the proposed Animas- <br />La Plata and Dolores projects in Colorado and New Mexico is dependent <br />on a physical solution to the Indian water rights in the San Juan, <br />according to BlA sources. <br /> <br />Copied: CWCB/mrn - 2/22/73 <br />