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Arizona’s General Stream Adjudications
1. Gila River Watershed (Maricopa County Superior Ct.)
• Commenced by Salt River Project in 1974
• 82,000 separate statements of claimant filed
by nearly 30,000 claimants
2. Little Colorado River Watershed (Apache County
Superior Ct.)
• Commenced by Phelps Dodge in 1978
• >14,000 separate statements of claimants
filed by nearly 5,000 claimants
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Water Rights Subject to Adjudication
• All water appropriable under the state law, including
“subflow”
• All water subject to claims based on federal law
• In the General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water
in the Gila River System and Source, 195 Ariz 411, 989
P.2d 739 (1999) (Gila III)(Recognized federal reserved
rights to groundwater).
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The Adjudications --- Why?
1. Tremendous growth in Central Arizona postWWII
• Heavy reliance on Salt and Verde River supplies
• No surface water administration – complete
uncertainty
2. 22 Native American Tribes with 21
reservations
• Only 4 Colorado River mainstream reservation claims
quantified in Ariz. v. California
• Remainder unquantified with early establishment
dates, generally
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3. Other Federal claims (USFS, Wilderness
Areas, DOD)
4. Increasing number of wells in the Verde
Valley.
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Major Parties
• Salt River Project
• Phelps Dodge (now Freeport McMoRan)
• United States
• Indian Tribes
• Municipalities
• Irrigation Districts
• Tributary Water Users
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Adjudication Process
1. File Complaint and complete service of
process
2. Claims filed with court
• Arizona Dept of Water Resources technical advisor role
3. ADWR prepares Hydrographic Survey Reports
(HSRs by subwatershed – lists WFRs
4. Objections to WFRs filed by claimants
5. Objections resolved by Special Master
6. Objections to Special Master’s Report
resolved by Court
7. Court prepares catalogue of rights (Decree)
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Current Status
1. Arizona v. San Carlos Apache Tribe
2. 11 reported decisions by the Arizona
Supreme Court
3. 26 years litigating line between appropriable
surfacewater and percolating groundwater
(not yet completed)
4. Not 1 State law based water right
adjudicated
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5. Nine Congressionally approved Indian Water
Rights Settlements (8 fully completed)
• 2 ongoing negotiations
• 3 in hiatus
6. Gila Adjudication – maybe 33% complete
7. Little Colorado River Adjudication - 5%
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Arizona Settlement Acts
Ak-Chin Water Use Amendments Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106285; Ak-Chin Water Use Amendments Act of 1992, Pub. L. No.
102-497; Act of Oct. 19, 1984, Pub. L. No. 98-530; Act of July 28,
1978, Pub. L. No. 95-328.
Southern Arizona Water Rights Settlement
Amendments Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-451;
Southern Arizona Water Rights Settlement Technical
Amendments Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-497; Southern
Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act of 1982, Pub. L. No. 97293.
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Water Rights
Settlement Act of 1988, Pub. L. No. 100-512.
Fort McDowell Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act
of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-628.
San Carlos Apache Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 1992,
Pub. L. No. 102-575.
Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of
1994, Pub. L. No. 103-434.
Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2003, Pub. L.
No. 108-34.
Gila River Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of
2004, Pub. L. No. 108-451.
White Mountain Apache Water Rights Quantification, Title III of
Claims Resolution Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-291.
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