Arizona Water Resource September-October 2003

If, in fact, there were any doubts about the matter, negotiations now underway to settle Navajo water right claims could serve as a case study of the intricate and complex workings of water law. What further complicates the issue in this instance is that the area of the Navajo Nation to receive water from whatever settlements are worked out is located close to the boundary between the upper and lower Colorado River basins. The Law of the River, which determines the management and use of Colorado River water, including its allocation between basins, becomes an issue to be reckoned with.