United States v. J. Ed Smith A/K/A Joseph Edward Smith, and Producers Minerals Corporation

FACTS

Smith, a landowner near the Gila River, was sued by the United States acting on its own behalf and on behalf of Indian tribes which have rights to the natural flow of the river. It is agreed that if Smith’s well takes water from the river the government may have injunctive and monetary relief.

We affirm the district court’s determination in dismissing the action that Smith’s well does not appreciably diminish the flow of the river.

The Gila River rises in western New Mexico and flows through Arizona to its confluence with the Colorado River near Yuma. In 1935 the district court in Arizona issued the Globe Equity Decree, adjudicating rights to the flow of the river. Smith purchased his farm in 1948 from the United States but obtained no Gila River water rights.

In 1969 he began to pump water from an underground well on his land within 400 feet of the Gila River. The well pumped water (1) to Smith’s own four-acre farm for his domestic use and (2) to a mine off Smith’s land belonging to Producers Minerals Corporation (the mine).

Smith’s domestic use of well water was and is minimal and the government seeks no damages for it. The mine, however, received over 177 million…