Feature: Animas La Plata
Region: Four Corners
Topics: C - G - O - T

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The Reserved Water Right
Are Indians Getting Their Fair Share?

Once the Indians had access to all natural resources contained by the land that became the United States. Then the European settlers stripped them of that access. The Winters decision of 1908 promised to right some of the wrongs done unto the Indians by the U.S. government. According to Winters, the U.S. government promised to deliver to the Indians certain rights to a valuable resource, water, particularly in the arid West. Yet, once again, the Indians receive the short end of the stick. In all fairness to the U.S. government, in both examples above, private interests were more in conflict with the reserved water rights of the Indians than the U.S. government. Yet somehow, the government must be partially to blame. If the government more fully advocated for the Indians and more fully admitted and fulfilled it's trust responsibilities to the Indians, the Indians may have received more of their promised water. Even with Winters, the Indians face an uphill battle to obtain water rights, as they do with gaining access to other resources.

Soto, Juancarlos. "The Reserved Water Right: Are Indians Getting Their Fair Share?" 23 October 1995