Trial under way in long-running northern Arizona water case
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A trial over water rights is underway in one of the longest-running court cases in Arizona history.
The case will determine who has rights to water from the Little Colorado River basin. The claims number in the thousands and likely exceed the water available.
The trial is expected to last years. Up first is the Hopi Tribe, which will spend the next couple of months outlining its past and present water use.
The tribe is challenging an earlier court ruling that said it has no rights to the river since it doesn't cross Hopi land or to water resources off the reservation, which is landlocked by the much-larger Navajo Nation.