In 1857, the Green Ridge Tribal Nation signed a treaty reserving for itself a portion of land from its aboriginal landholdings. The treaty was signed by the Nation as well as the United States and was approved by Congress. Like most other treaties, the text of the treaty says nothing about providing water for the reservation but does have language stating that the reservation is to be a permanent homeland for the tribal community. The Green Ridge Tribal Nation is located in the state of Samson, a state in the United States. The State of Samson uses a prior appropriation system for determining rights to both surface water and groundwater. Samson is a predominantly rural and agricultural state. Surrounding the Green Ridge Tribal Nation reservation are several very large farming operations that rely upon irrigation to grow water-intensive crops. The farming operations have a mix of groundwater wells and surface water diversions that supply water for their crops. The farming operations have valid water rights under Samson state law, and some are very old dating back to the 1870s.

In 2018, the Green Ridge Tribal Nation wishes to compete with the agricultural operations in the region and begins developing large-scale irrigated agricultural farms within the reservation. The Nation has only ever used water for domestic purposes and some light industrial workthe Nation has not engaged in much water use at all since the creation of the reservation. As the Nation begins to divert water from the nearby surface streams and drill wells into the aquifers, neighboring non-Indian landowners have grown uneasy about the possibility of the Nation's expansive water usage and its possible effects on their water rights.

The non-Indian landowners seek to file an action in state court preventing the Green Ridge Tribal Nation from obtaining water rights to engage in irrigated agriculture on lands within the reservation. They make the following arguments:

1. The Nation is not entitled to water rights because they have not actually put any water to beneficial use.

2. If the Nation is granted any water rights, the Nation must have a priority date of 2019when it first puts the water to beneficial use.

3. If the Nation is granted any water rights, then the Nation is only entitled to surface water.

4. If the Nation is granted any water rights, then the Nation is only allowed to use water for irrigated agriculture and nothing else.