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116 Part i california Water Indian tribes and water stewardship California is home to more than 100 federally recognized Indian tribes and over 200 distinct Indian water allotments, both on reservations and in the federal public domain (Parr and Parr 2009). Under U.S. Supreme Court rul- ings, these Indian holdings potentially include federal water rights (Winters v. United States 1908; Sax et al. 2006).44 Indian tribes are entitled to as much water as necessary to fulfill the purpose of the Indian reservation, usually enough to irrigate the “practicably irrigable acreage” on the reservation (Arizona v. California 1963, 2006). Although the law is not clear, once Indian water rights are quantified, tribes may be entitled to use the water for purposes other than those used to measure the rights—e.g., for environmental flows (Sax et al. 2006). In contrast to some other western states, Indian water rights have not had a major role in California to date.45 However, California Indian tribes are inter- ested in the quantification and use of their federal water rights. As Indian tribes seek to quantify and use their water rights, tribal claims could affect existing allocations of water in California. This would be especially true for intrastate allocations of water from the Colorado River, where the U.S. Supreme Court has held that tribal claims may exceed 900,000 acre-feet per year (Arizona v. California 1963). Even without greater quantification of their water rights, California tribes sometimes have important roles in California water policy. Northern California tribes, for example, used their fishing rights to help drive the 2009 agreement to remove four dams from the Klamath River (Box 2.4). As holders of Colorado River rights, the San Luis Rey Indians of Southern California helped enable the transfer of water from the Imperial Irrigation District to the San Diego County Water Authority.46 Indian tribes also have expressed concern about siting infrastructure that may interfere with sacred sites, loss of access to native-resource plants as a result of water activities, the effect of abandoned mines on water quality, illegal diversions, flood planning 44. Federal water rights enjoy priorities that date to the year the tribal land was reserved from the public domain by executive order or statute, and Indian water rights are not lost by nonuse (Cappaert v. United States 1976). The priority date for Indian water rights actually dates to the year in which an Indian reservation was created by treaty, executive order, or statute. No Indian tribes in California, however, are subject to treaties. 45. This is mostly because the water rights of only a few tribes have been quantified (Parr and Parr 2009). In addition, the priority dates for most Indian water rights in California might be late enough to be junior to most existing state water rights. Various legal theories might entitle tribes to earlier priority dates (California Tribal Water Summit Regional Tribal Water Plenary 2009). For experiences in some other southwestern states, see Colby, Thorson and Britton (2005). 46. The tribe and the San Diego County Water Authority are sharing the water savings from the lining of the All- American Canal, one of the components of the Quantification Settlement Agreement noted above. For the time being, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is buying the tribe’s share until it can put the water to use.