Arizona water rights trial underway
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The Associated Press reported that a trial over water rights is underway in one of the longest-running court cases in Arizona history that will determine who has rights to water from the Little Colorado River basin. The claims number in the thousands and likely exceed the water available.
Arizona has two major cases in the Gila River and Lower Colorado River basins, which cover about two-thirds of the state. They date to the 1970s. Some important legal questions about jurisdiction and water law have already been decided, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute.
"It's important to remember that we probably have more challenges embedded in our adjudications than other states," she says. "For one, we have less water and we have quite a number of tribal claims."
More than half the land belongs to the Navajo and Hopi tribes. Without knowing how much water is available, communities can't plan for the future. And the conflicts are plentiful.
The case will determine the rights and priorities of all water users, including cities, farmers, ranchers with stock ponds and homeowners with domestic wells.
READ: Trial Under Way in Long-Running Northern Arizona Water Case