Indian Law

Water law consists of the statutes, regulations, and case law that govern the ownership, control, and use of water. The resources below provide information on resources that focus on the intersection of water law and Indian law.

Indigenous Water Rights in Law and Regulation (Elizabeth Jane MacPherson, 2019)
This book introduces the justifications and strategies for regulating indigenous peoples’ water rights, including cultural relationships, human rights, private rights, and the rights of nature. It also analyzes the indigenous water rights regimes in four countries and advocates for greater indigenous self determination with regard to water resources.

American Indian Law Center’s Native American Water Rights Settlement E-Repository
This E-Repository has federal, state, tribal, and court public documents relating to Native American water rights settlements.

Arizona v. California Collection at the William A. Wise Law Library
The Arizona v. California Collection at the William A. Wise Law Library at the University of Colorado Boulder contains full-text, searchable pleadings, briefs, orders, transcripts, and reports from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case filed by the State of Arizona against the State of California concerning Colorado River water rights.

Central Arizona Project Association, Records, 1922-1974
This print archival collection includes correspondence, speeches, articles, reports, subject files and scrapbooks documenting the establishment of the Central Arizona Project. Information on the website is arranged in four series: correspondence, administrative records, subject files, and scrapbooks.

Native American Water Rights Center
This collection from the University of Arizona compiles federal government documents pertaining to the water rights of tribes in Arizona. Documents are arranged by tribe and items are listed chronologically within each grouping.

EPA: Tribes and Water Quality Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency offers tools for tribes on how to administer water quality regulations, with links to statues, regulations, and policies regarding scientific standards as well as treatment of tribes in a similar manner as states.

Water Resources Research Center
The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center promotes understanding of critical Arizona and Southwest water management and policy issues through research, community outreach, and public education.

Western States Water Council
The Western States Water Council is an organization consisting of representatives appointed by the governors of 18 western states. One of its primary objectives is to accomplish effective cooperation among western states in the conservation, development, and management of water resources.