Transcript

David Getches: Indian water rights claims are almost indisputable

The reality of these Indian water rights claims is that the claims are potentially enormous and they are almost indisputable. The purpose of those treaties was in some cases to allow the tribes to continue their fishing as they had before the treaties. And in other cases it was to make farmers of tribes that had never farmed before. It takes water for both of those [activities] and lots of water. In order to get that, there has to be some kind of reallocation of the existing supplies and that may mean that there is going to be some dislocation, some discomfort felt by people. But as Mr. Keys points out, there are ways of pointing out solutions where the neighbors to the tribes can win too, but you don't get there simply by asserting property rights or some legal doctrines on one side or the other. You have to sit down and work hard at a negotiated solution and be willing to give up a little, and that is what the adversaries have to realize.

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