Brown told the audience that for years he has been involved in water rights issues in conjunction with Native-American Tribes like the Hopi and Navajo which are as yet unresolved.
     He said issues surrounding claims by Native-Americans to approximately 4-5 times the actual availability of water in the Little Colorado Basin will likely take as much time if not longer once all of the different Congressional and State Legislative steps come into play.
     Native-Americans claim they have reserve rights to ground water in the Little Colorado Basin but there is some gray area in defining exactly what surface or ground water is and who has the rights to that water by law.
     He said that issue is likely to take quite a long time to resolve noting that it could have bearing on Rainbow Lake in that if there is no water in the lake, removing the weeds becomes to a certain extent moot. He did not say that would happen, but depending on the outcome, final adjudication over local water rights might in the end have a bearing.
     In a different area of interest regarding the Rainbow Lake, Brown said the irrigation company is "strapped" for funding and may possibly in the future determine that both Rainbow and Woodland Lakes are no longer cost-effective for their water storage impoundments. One of their alternatives would be to abandon the lakes and use Show Low Lake as their primary water storage.

 

 

*Reach the reporter at mleiby@wmicentral.com