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27 Legal Reference Services Q. 1 (2008-2009)

handle is hein.journals/lgrefsq27 and id is 1 raw text is: American Indian Water Rights: Law and Research Nancy Carol Carter ABSTRACT. American Indian tribes own substantial quantities of wa- ter, but often encounter obstacles to winning legal and public recogni- tion of their water rights. Antiquated nineteenth century water regimes completely cut reservations out of water allocations throughout the arid western states, leaving many Indian lands unproductive, even as public funds built massive federal irrigation projects to provide low-cost water for other farmers. Since the 1960s, protracted and acrimonious litigation has forced some changes in the status quo. Today, weary participants in the water wars are increasingly accepting the reality of tribal water rights and negotiating settlements of water claims. This paper presents case studies illustrating tribal efforts to secure water rights. It briefly explains United States water law and identifies the legal basis of the Indian reserved water right. The paper concludes with research guid- ance and an annotated bibliography of selected printed and electronic sources. KEYWORDS. Water law, Indian law, tribal sovereignty, constitu- tional law INTRODUCTION Indian water rights law is complicated, fractious, and unsettled. In this field of more questions than answers,1 efforts to win tribal water rights often are injected into complex water litigation already underway within a state. Thus, the federal failure in not securing Indian water rights Nancy Carol Carter is Legal Research Center Director and Professor of Law, Univer- sity of San Diego, San Diego, CA (E-mail: ncc@sandiego.edu). Legal Reference Services Quarterly, Vol. 27(1) 2008 Available online at http://lrsq.haworthpress.com doi: 10.1080/02703190802128442 1

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