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1 1 (March 21, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveorq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congre stinaIliRes lnfcrming I he l ive dI a birch Service sinlGO 1914 0 March 21, 2024 Department of the Interior Support for Tribal Water Projects Congress regulates tribal affairs, including tribal access to water resources, pursuant to its constitutional authority. In addition, the federal government has a federal trust responsibility to protect tribal treaty rights, lands, assets, and water resources on behalf of federally recognized Tribes (hereinafter Tribes) and tribal members. The federal government supports water projects and activities for Tribes through multiple agencies and programs, including the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior (DOI). This In Focus discusses major DOI efforts to support tribal water projects, including Indian water rights settlements (IWRS), Indian irrigation projects, and rural water projects. Indian Water Rights Settlements Dating to a 1908 Supreme Court ruling (Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 575-77), courts generally have held that many Tribes have a reserved right to water sufficient to fulfill the purpose of their reservations and that this right took effect on the date the reservations were established. This means that, in the context of a state water law system of prior appropriation (common in many U.S. western states), many Tribes have priority water rights over those of non-Indian users with water rights and access established subsequent to the Indian reservations' creation. Although many Tribes hold senior water rights through their reservations, the quantification of these rights in many cases remains undetermined and subject to state legal processes. IWRS are a means of dispute resolution that allow Tribes to quantify their unresolved water rights, while also procuring access to water through infrastructure and other related expenses. In exchange, non-tribal users gain assurances related to water rights and potential litigation. The federal government, through the Secretary of the Interior's Indian Water Rights Office, takes a leadership role in coordinating the negotiation and implementation of individual settlements. In addition to Tribes and federal government representatives, settlement negotiations may involve states, water districts, and private water users (i.e., water rights holders), among others. Although IWRS are a popular approach to solving Indian water rights disputes, disagreements may arise regarding specific compromises in individual settlements that are deemed unacceptable by one or more parties. Approval and implementation of IWRS typically require federal action-often in the form of congressional approval in enacting legislation. As of early 2024, Congress had enacted 35 such settlements. Of these, the federal government currently has an active implementation role in 19 settlements. Another 20 settlements are currently in the negotiation phase. The federal government, through congressional authorizing legislation and in concert with tribal stakeholders, has been directed to implement various activities and infrastructure specific to (and deemed appropriate for) individual IWRS. This includes funding and support for major water storage and conveyance infrastructure, groundwater management, irrigation projects, and municipal water systems, among other things. Congress also has approved funding for the ongoing operations and maintenance of some tribal water systems. In authorizing legislation Congress has in some cases included permanent (mandatory) funding for selected activities and projects associated with individual settlements. Congress also has approved broader mandatory funds available to fund enacted IWRS, subject to specific criteria. Major mandatory funding sources for IWRS are depicted below in Figure 1. The Reclamation Water Settlements Fund (enacted in 2010 in P.L. 111-11), is available to fund certain priority IWRS, and the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund (P.L. 117-58) is available to fund all settlements approved as of the date of that bill's enactment (November 2021). Figure 1. Mandatory Funding for Indian Water Rights Settlements ($ in millions) Individual Settlement Funds $92, (var ous) Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund 2 Redamation Wate i Settlements Fund Y - Source: Congressional Research Service. Federal funding outside of these sources is typically provided through annual discretionary appropriations for the BOR or BIA. For example, BIA's Indian Land and Water Claim Settlements and Miscellaneous Payments to Indians (ILWC) account includes funding to implement IWRS. The BOR also funds individual settlements through discretionary funding for its Water and Related Resources Account. For more information, see CRS Report R44148, Indian Water Rights Settlements, by Charles V. Stern; and CRS Report R47723, Bureau of Indian Affairs: Overview of Budget Issues and Options for Congress, by Mariel J. Murray.

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