SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — The beginning of the end of one of the longest-running water rights cases is underway. But the end is still at least eight years away and some loose ends need to be tied, including securing funding to complete a $400 million-plus project and an unsettled dispute over access to roads on pueblo land.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation contractors have begun work on the first phase of what will become the Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System serving approximately 3,900 homes and 9,921 tribal members and non-tribal residents from San Ildefonso Pueblo to Santa Fe.

It is th...