WRRC Water Webinar: 104(b) Grant Program Student Research Presentation: Indian Water Settlements in Arizona: An Analysis of their History and Potential Future

Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized Tribal Nations and boasts 11 Congressionally ratified Indian water settlements. Tribal water rights were recognized by the United States Supreme Court in 1908 through Winters v. United States (1908), which established the reserved water rights doctrine. Arizona was a territory between 1863 and 1912, when it gained statehood. The reservations of most Tribal Nations in Arizona were established in the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, making their water rights very senior to other water rights in the state. While the reserved water rights doctrine is separate from the prior appropriation doctrine, the two doctrines share the seniority system. 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 were vastly unrecognized until 1978, when the first Congressionally ratified Indian water settlement took place for the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Since then, 10 additional Indian water settlements were ratified by Congress, with others like the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act (NAIWRSA) pending in Congress. 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 the time of settlement agreement negotiation and Congressional ratification. This research reviewed the 11 Congressionally ratified Indian water settlements in Arizona 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. 

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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. She currently works at the International Indian Treaty Council, which is an Indigenous Peoples’ organization protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at the international level. Dr. Menjivar aims to use her doctoral degree to educate students and the general public about the importance of protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples.