The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has settled the Hualapai Tribe's water rights claims in Arizona and created a $312 million tribal trust fund for water infrastructure, the agency announced in a press release.
"Across the Western United States, tribes are navigating an uncertain future as the climate crisis worsens, the arid West grows drier, and precious water resources become scarcer," Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau said in the DOI press release. "The Biden-Harris administration is committed to using every tool at our disposal to deliver on our promises to Indigenous communities."
"Today we celebrate a settlement that was achieved by true collaboration – with Department of the Interior officials, Tribal representatives, stakeholders and other water users – to finally deliver water to the Hualapai Tribe and its future generations," Beaudreau said.
The Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022, Public Law 117-349, defines the tribe's water rights, including “the right to divert, use and store 4,000 acre-feet of agricultural priority water of the Central Arizona Project,” according to the Congress.gov website. The law also increases the size of the Hualapai Tribe’s reservation and authorizes the DOI to take land into trust for the benefit of the tribe.
“Water rights have been, and continue to be, a priority for the Biden-Harris administration. This is one of the many areas in which we are working to uphold the federal government’s trust responsibility to Tribes. This investment in and commitment to Indian Country, while long overdue, is unprecedented. It has led to real change on the ground in many Tribal communities, including right here at Hualapai,” Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland said in the news release.
In February 2022, the Department of the Interior announced the allocation of $2.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to implement the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund. The announcement said $1.7 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was allocated to previously enacted settlements that were owed money to complete the terms of their settlements.
These settlements wrap up disputes over whether a tribe has access to specific water resources to avoid drawn-out legal issues, a DOI Indian Affairs web page says. The intent of these settlements is to help tribes and individuals secure their rights to historic tribal land and permanent access to clean, reliable water, the web page says.
