Abstract
This Article examines the integral role of CAP supplies in the settlement of Indian reserved water rights claims in Arizona thus far, then explores what alternatives remain for future Indian water settlements, now that Central Arizona Project ("CAP") supplies are all but exhausted. At the outset, it examines the nature of the tribes' federal reserved rights claims, and the adverse relationship of those claims to the water rights of neighboring non-Indian users based on the prior appropriation doctrine. This Article then describes the CAP water allocation structure, and discusses how CAP supplies were used in past Indian water settlements to resolve competing claims to inadequate local water supplies between the tribes and their neighbors. It describes how, with the culmination of each settlement, and most recently with the passage of the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004, the available CAP supply for future Indian settlements has dwindled to less than 100,000 acre-feet. Finally, this Article explores what opportunities remain for the settlement of unresolved tribal claims to water, now that available CAP supplies have been depleted.
How to Cite
49 Ariz. L. Rev. 441 (2007)
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