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Legal Alert – Arizona Supreme Court Finds the State of Arizona Does Not Possess Federal Reserved Water Rights for State Trust Lands
Arizona Supreme Court Finds the State of Arizona Does Not Possess Federal Reserved Water Rights for State Trust Lands
by Karlene E. Martorana and Christopher W. Payne
In a long-awaited decision today, the Arizona Supreme Court resolved an issue that the State of Arizona has been litigating for nearly 10 years: whether the State of Arizona has federal reserved water rights on state trust lands. In a unanimous decision, the Arizona Supreme Court, en banc, held that the State of Arizona does not possess a federal reserved water right for state trust land. See In Re General Adjudication, Case No. WC-11-0001-IR (September 12, 2012). The effect of this decision is that the State will have to rely on state law-based water rights for state trust lands.
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