Arizona v. California, 530 U.S. 392, 28 (2000)

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Cite as: 530 U. S. 392 (2000)

Opinion of the Court

senting a past location of the River. See Arizona II, 460 U. S., at 631. The parties agreed to resolve the matter through an accord that (1) awards the Tribes the lesser of an additional 2,100 acre-feet of water or enough water to irrigate 315 acres; (2) precludes the United States or the Tribe from seeking additional reserved water rights from the Colorado River for lands in California; (3) embodies the parties' intent not to adjudicate in these proceedings the correct location of the disputed boundary; (4) preserves the competing claims of the parties to title to or jurisdiction over the bed of the Colorado River within the reservation; and (5) provides that the agreement will become effective only if the Master and the Court approve the settlement. See McGarr Report 9-10. The Master expressed concern that the settlement does not resolve the location of the disputed boundary, but recognized that it did achieve the ultimate aim of determining water rights associated with the disputed boundary lands. Id., at 10-12, 13-14. We again accept the Master's recommendation and approve the proposed settlement.6

* * *

For the foregoing reasons, we remand the outstanding water rights claims associated with the disputed boundary

6 A group called the West Bank Homeowners Association has filed a brief amicus curiae objecting to the proposed settlement of water rights claims respecting the Colorado River Indian Reservation. The Association represents some 650 families who lease property from the United States within the current boundaries of the Reservation. The Court and the Special Master have each denied the Association's request to intervene in these proceedings. See Arizona v. California, 514 U. S. 1081 (1995); Special Master McGarr Memorandum Opinion and Order No. 17 (Mar. 29, 1995). The Master observed that the Association's members do "not own land in the disputed area and [the Association] makes no claim to title or water rights," id., at 2, thus their interests will "not be impeded or impaired by the outcome of this litigation," id., at 6. Accordingly, we do not further consider the Association's objections.

419

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