CA: Indians sue over water rights (Cahuilla Band of Indians over Anza Valley water supply)

ANZA - The Cahuilla Band of Indians has petitioned a U.S. federal judge to join a 55-year-old lawsuit over water rights to the Santa Margarita River system that runs from Anza to Oceanside.

In filing suit in U.S. District Court in San Diego, tribal leaders want to strengthen the reservation's previously established legal right to water in the Anza Basin by having the court specify how much the tribe can take.

The tribe also hopes its action will prompt Riverside County officials to put new development and well-drilling on hold in the area to prevent possible overdrafting of underground supplies.

Besides quantifying the water entitlement, tribal leaders say they want to start a dialogue about developing a water-resources management plan for the entire Anza Valley, which is home to nearly 10,000 residents. The reservation takes up almost 19,000 acres in the center and contains some 50 homes and 200 residents.

"The tribe is just sounding an alarm that we all have to wake up and figure out a water-management plan that makes sense," said Anthony Madrigal," water-resources consultant to the Cahuilla band. "We recognize it's in everybody's best interest to arrive at some sort of solution here that allows reasonable, safe management of the water and some limited development."

Madrigal said tribal leaders have asked for the assistance of Riverside County officials and 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone in restricting development and bringing the parties together to talk about long-range solutions.

"Obviously they need to do what they think they need to do," said Verne Lauritzen, Stone's chief of staff. "But we also have a concern that some residents in Anza are worried they may get their water shut off as a result (of the tribe's legal action). We want to assure everyone that that is not the tribe's intent."

The Cahuilla band is stepping into a lawsuit that started in 1951 when the United States government filed suit in federal court to settle title to the Santa Margarita watershed. The watershed encompasses the Santa Margarita River system, which starts in the Anza Valley and runs through the reservation to Vail Lake, Temecula, Camp Pendleton and Oceanside.

"In 1965, the court entered a judgment awarding the Cahuilla band a federal reserve water right, which set aside enough water to make the Cahuilla reservation an Indian homeland for now and all time," Madrigal said. "The court set out how the amount should be calculated based on irrigable acres, but it didn't enter a final determination of the actual amount, saying it wasn't necessary at that time."

The tribe was not a direct litigant in the case back then, Madrigal said. It was represented by the U.S. Attorney's office through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"With increased development in the Anza Valley and additional water use by non-Indians, the tribe believes its reserve-water right is affected," Madrigal said. "So we're working with the Bureau of Indian affairs and the U.S. Attorney in seeking a final decree of our water right."

Madrigal said several large developments have been proposed around the 19,000-acre reservation over the last few years. The latest was for 400-plus homes. Lauritzen said there was also one for more than 1,000 dwellings.

The tribe is worried that in addition to altering the area's rural landscape and bringing more population and traffic with it, encroaching development already may have lowered the aquifer to a critical level.

"The tribe isn't just saying we've got our water right -- too bad!" Madrigal said. "The vision Indians and non-Indians have up here is of limited growth."

Lauritzen said many people in the Anza Valley believe water supplies are insufficient to sustain growth. There already have been sporadic reports of individual wells drying up, he said.

In lieu of a formal freeze on development, however, Stone's office has imposed a "pseudo moratorium" by not approving any large developments until a new water study is completed, he said.

"The U.S. Geologic Survey is proposing to do the study and we're trying to help fund that, but it will be probably two or three years before that wraps up," he added. "We're hoping we can actually start it within a few short months."

Tribal Chairman Anthony Madrigal Jr. said part of the problem is that there is no agency or water company monitoring usage in the area.

"It's all domestic and commercial wells that service the residents of the Anza Valley and the Cahuilla reservation," he said. "Those wells are not metered, so depletion of the underground water supply is not regulated."

"The court has already defined our right to the water," the elder Madrigal said. "It's another matter, though, as to how much can be safely taken."

Meanwhile, the tribe is looking at potential developments of its own, including a small recreational lake, possibly some agricultural use and a small destination resort.

"To undertake these kinds of projects, we have to resolve the water-rights issue," Madrigal said.

Early in the 20th century, SCOTUS found that indian reservations were entitled to agricultural water. The ruling established the Federal and Indian Lands Reserved Water Rights, which is know as the Winters Doctrine.

Thru time, the name has been shortened to Reserved Water Rights, and it allows the feds to make claims that are superlative to all state water rights laws.

While water for reservation agriculture is not considered to be large and is easily quantifiable, Reserved Water Rights is threatenting in other ways.

During the latter years of the 20th century, judges began to reinterpret the Winters Doctrine to include all federal lands for other needs such as minimum flow. This was used on the suckers in Klamath.

Clinton and Babbit made egregious claims on water, some of them are srill in the courts.

That all stopped in 2001, but the next Dem Prez will pick up where Clinton left off.

As Babbit said, he who controls the water, controls the land(use).

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