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DURANGO, Colo.—Federal water settlements are giving Indian tribes in the West a water rights bonanza.
According to the Denver Post ( ), six recent water settlements have forced the federal government to provide more than $2 billion for dam, pipeline and reservoir projects.
The settlements are giving tribes from Montana to New Mexico control over 1.5 million acre-feet of new water each year.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that tribes relocated to reservations are entitled to enough water to live on those lands.
So far, only 29 of the nation’s 565 tribes have settled their claims.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
