Addressing Institutional Barriers to Native American Water Marketing

Federally recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin hold the combined rights to 3.6 million acre-feet of water — but at times, more than half of that resource might simply flow unused. That’s in large part because tribes with water rights on the Colorado River are prohibited from marketing those rights to off-reservation users without congressional authorization. This report argues for Congress to grant new blanket authority for tribal water rights holders to be allowed to market their water off-reservation.