ANSAC's mission has nothing to do with water use, water allocation, water ownership, or water diversion and relates only to streambed title or title to the actual land or the beds of streams and rivers and not to the water.  The beds/the land (only) beneath streams that were NAVIGABLE at statehood are owned by the government and the beds/the land (only) beneath streams that were NOT NAVIGABLE at statehood may be owned privately, such as the bed to a dry wash that runs across a piece of property.   There are some 17 major rivers and more than 39,000 named and unnamed small or minor watercourses.  Thus far the Commission has determined that all Arizona watercourses were NOT NAVIGABLE at time of Statehood.  The Colorado River is exempt from ANSAC's determinations and is owned by the government and there are also other land title legal issues involved in some cases such as tribal lands, U.S. Forest Service Lands, Spanish Land Grant Lands, etc.

There are estimated to be more than 100,000 clouded property titles involving Arizona's 39,039 known watercourses that may negatively impact the private property rights of Arizona citizens and businesses.  Today, if you purchase property that a dry wash travels across you will likely receive a tltle insurance policy informing you that it is unclear whether you or the government owns the bed to that wash; that is owns title to that property.  Whether you or the state owns the property, according to decisions made by the courts,  depends on navigability at the time of statehood and cannot be known until navigability is determined, which is the initial mission of the Commission.  Navigability is based on certain case laws, statutes, and conditions at the time of statehood such as conveyences that were used on water at that time.  There are many factors that are involved in a final determination of navigability for any watercourse or for any portion or reach of any watercourse.  Therefore, the primary mission of ANSAC is to determine the navigability of Arizona's 39,039 watercourses as of statehood February 14, 1912 for streambed title purposes.  ANSAC has worked diligently on this through various changes in the law and transformations of ANSAC, and this work has been almost completed although six challenges to ANSAC'S determinations are currently pending in court.  ANSAC has held watercourse navigability evidentiary hearings in every Arizona county seat during normal business hours making it convenient for local residents and businesses to participate.  There is a secondary mission and that is for ANSAC to determine the public trust values of all watercourses that were navigable at statehood and that are owned by the government.  ANSAC will not be able to make this public trust value determination until the six (6) cases presently in court are resolved in terms of the navigability issue.  Although not a primary mission of ANSAC's work, as a result of ANSAC's work every Arizona watercourse has been mapped by engineers.

Throughout its history, including various incarnations necessitated by changes in the law, ANSAC has conducted more than 130 separate watercourse navigability hearings.  ANSAC has adjudicated the navigability of all 39,039 watercourses. ANSAC is presently in the reports, research, writing and Superior Court Appeals phases of its work, with six appeals pending in state court: Lower Salt River, San Pedro River, Santa Cruz River, Upper Salt River, Verde River, and Gila River. 

ANSAC attempts to keep office hours flexible to provide optimum service to our customers by being available for the review of evidence at almost any time including to out of state visitors.  Prior arrangements are necessary partly to insure two opposing parties do not want to review the same evidence at the same time, which has occasionally occurred.