Building With Blinders On: How Policymakers Ignored Indian Water Rights to the Colorado, Setting the Stage for the Navajo Claim

摘要

On March 14, 2003, the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior in an effort to resolve its potentially huge share of the Colorado River.1 The suit focuses on the tribe's reserved water rights for the western half of its reservation, above Lake Mead in Arizona.2 It should have come as no surprise. Millions of people rely on Colorado River water for municipal and commercial purposes in the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. Billions have been spent in the Southwest based on this reliance, fueling rapid growth and economic prosperity.