Letter: Law of the River redux

The repeal of the "Law of the River" as suggested by an August 15 LTE is so much easier to propose than to achieve. About 30 American Indian tribes have had senior rights to the water long before the existence of the seven western states that are usually part of the Colorado River story. In 1908 the Supreme Court Case, Winter V. United States said that when the federal government reserved permanent tribal homelands, it reserved enough water to make the homelands viable. When the Colorado River Compact was negotiated in 1922 no tribal representatives were in attendance. The Compact brought water distribution facilities, the Hoover Dam, and many other conveyance projects to the American West. No tribes were apportioned investments in the infrastructures to deliver their water. The "Law of the River" is a convoluted array of court cases, treaties with indigenous peoples, federal law, and other contracts for canals, dams and water. These facts defy what should be the relative ease with which federal law is normally repealed.