Co-sponsored by the U of A Indigenous Resilience Center (IRes)
Hopi Rain (WRRC 2017 Photo Contest Entry)
Bruce Russell
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Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized Tribal Nations and boasts 11 Congressionally ratified Indian water settlements. Tribal water rights were first recognized by the United States Supreme Court in 1908 through Winters v. United States, which established the reserved water rights doctrine. Arizona was a territory from 1863 until 1912, when it gained statehood. The reservations of most Tribal Nations in Arizona were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which gave them the highest seniority for water rights in the state. While the reserved water rights doctrine is separate from the prior appropriation doctrine, both share the seniority system; however, under the reserved water rights doctrine, seniority is based on the date when a Tribal Nation’s reservation was established. Despite this seniority, Tribal water rights in Arizona went largely unrecognized until 1978, following the establishment of the first Congressionally ratified Indian water settlement of the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Since then, 10 additional Indian water settlements have been ratified, with others like the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act still pending.
Indian water settlements are complex, and each settlement is unique to the priorities of the Tribe, the state, the United States, and other stakeholders at time of settlement agreement negotiation and Congressional ratification. This WRRC Water Webinar will discuss the research that reviewed Arizona’s 11 Congressionally ratified Indian water settlements using a historical and discourse analysis to contextualize such settlements within the history of Tribal water rights and the changing priorities of the parties involved.
Aminta Menjivar holds a PhD in American Indian Studies with a minor in law from the University of Arizona. Her dissertation research focused on Native American water sovereignty and self-determination. Menjivar currently works at the International Indian Treaty Council—an Indigenous Peoples’ organization that protects the rights of Indigenous Peoples at the international level. She aims to use her doctoral degree to educate students and the public about the importance of protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
