Daniel Kraker’s assertion in “The New Water
Czars” that Indian tribes lease their water for more than $1,000 an
acre-foot is inaccurate (HCN, 3/15/04: The New Water Czars). Yes,
Del Webb Corporation leased 10,000 acre-feet of water from the
Ak-Chin for $12 million — but it was a one-time, up-front
payment for 100 years’ worth of water. Phoenix and three
other cities will lease 41,000 acre-feet of water from the Gila
River Indian Community for a one-time, up-front payment that likely
will be $1,800 or more per acre-foot — but that lease, too,
will be for 100 years.
Because these leases are for 100
years, it is cheap water. Del Webb, for example, is actually paying
$12 per acre-foot per year. If Phoenix and the other cities pay
$1,800 per acre-foot, the cost per year for each acre-foot will be
$18 — cheap, inexpensive water by any measure. (It should be
noted, however, that Del Webb, Phoenix, and other users who lease
water for Indian tribes must pay additional “delivery” charges to
the Central Arizona Project for that water. In the case of Del
Webb, that’s about $74 per acre-foot.)
The real
issue, however, is not what the cities pay for the water, but
whether anyone — Indian tribe or otherwise — should be
given quantities of water for which there is no legitimate need.
Historically, neither the Ak-Chin nor the Gila River Indian
communities ever used the quantities of water which they have been
awarded by U.S. secretaries of the Interior and by unknowing U.S.
Congresses.
If the federal government succeeds in taking
another couple of hundred thousand acre-feet of Arizona’s
Colorado River water supply for Indians, 13 tribes with little more
than 1 percent of the year 2000 population will control 51.66
percent of the state’s main surface water supply.
These tribes currently control 44 percent of the supply, which
amounts to 76 gallons of water for each resident of these
reservations, compared to one gallon each for every other resident
in Arizona. If the federal government succeeds, this
disproportionate distribution will increase to 103 gallons to one.
By any measure, that is unjust. If it were the other way
around, the Indians would scream bloody murder, and rightly so.
Earl Zarbin
Phoenix,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Indian water giveaway.
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