Quoted:
Quoted: How them folks gonna live when the water runs out?
Huh?
Buy water rights from Mexico?
As Mark Twain wrote more than 125 years ago about the West - "Whiskey's for drinking; water's for fighting over."
Eric The('WeHaveDesertsInAmerica,Too-WeJustDon'tLiveIn'Em' ~ Sam Kennison)Hun
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We own the Colorado.
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Yes, according to the Colorado River Compact of 1922, which Arizona did NOT ratify until the 1940s, the 'Lower Basin States' were to receive 7.5 million acre feet of water annually.
The Compact was ultimately court-tested in 1963 in tthe case of Arizona vs. California, and the US Surpreme Court threw a real monkey-wrench into the scheme.
'Indian water rights' were not affected by that original Compact!
There are at least five Indian Reservations within the 'Lower Basin' States, the Chemehuevi, Cocopah, Colorado River, Fort Mohave and Quechan (Fort Yuma), as well as the 'sleeping Giant' of them all - the Navajo Reservation of 25,000 square miles!
Along with the above-mentioned tribes, other Arizona tribes have potential claims to Colorado River water. Walapai and Havasupai claim to have rights, although neither has taken any legal action. About 180 miles of the Havasupai reservation borders on the Colorado River.
So, whenever these Indian tribes awaken and decide that casinos are fun but you can't make mixed drinks without water, well, you may find out what Mark Twain meant about 'water's to fight over'!
Eric The(WaterLawyer)Hun