Tribes hold wild card in high-stakes supply game

摘要

First of two stories on tribal water rights. It's not just modern engineering that made Arizona's desert bloom. Thirty miles south of downtown Phoenix sits dusty land that was once farmed by one of the most advanced agricultural civilizations of prehistoric times. As far back as 300 B.C., the Hohokam people hand-dug a network of canals through the Gila River's rich floodplains, diverting spring runoff to nourish their fields.