- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Energy | Environment
Congress is mounting a broader push to close long‑standing drinking‑water gaps in tribal communities across the Western United States. Legislators have introduced two bills aimed at securing water rights, modernizing aging systems and directing federal dollars toward regions facing some of the most persistent water‑access challenges in the country.
The proposals include the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Act, led by Sen. Alex Padilla, D‑Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D‑Calif., and the bipartisan Western Tribal Water Act, introduced by Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper D‑Colo., along with Reps. Jeff Hurd, R‑Colo., and Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D‑Colo. The bills target long-standing infrastructure and water rights gaps in tribal communities.
The Agua Caliente bill would finalize a 2025 settlement involving the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the federal government and two local water districts in the Coachella Valley. The agreement affirms federally reserved rights to as much as 20,000 acre‑feet of groundwater each year from the Indio Subbasin and recognizes surface water rights in several local creeks.
The bill also creates a $500 million trust fund for water infrastructure, groundwater augmentation and long‑term operations. It places more than 2,700 acres of Bureau of Land Management land into trust for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, resolving long‑standing land‑management complications tied to the reservation’s checkerboard pattern.
Agua Caliente Chairman Jeff Grubbe said the settlement reflects years of coordination with federal and local partners and reinforces the tribe’s authority over its water resources while supporting long-term regional supply.
The Western Tribal Water Act targets drinking‑water access in the Upper Colorado River Basin, where tribal communities face more than $100 million in unmet infrastructure needs. The region is not prioritized under the Indian Reservation Drinking Water Program, despite widespread reliability issues and worsening drought.
The bill would reauthorize the program through 2028 and increase its annual authorization to $60 million. It directs funding to 10 needed drinking‑water projects in the basin to replace aging systems, address contamination risks and improve reliability in remote communities.
Supporters say the Western Tribal Water Act would help tribal communities replace outdated systems, address contamination risks and improve reliability in areas where drought and low snowpack have intensified water scarcity. Hurd and Pettersen have emphasized the need to ensure tribal households are not left behind as federal agencies invest in water infrastructure across the West.
“Access to drinking water is a basic necessity,” Melvin Baker, chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, said in a statement. “It takes meaningful steps to ensure our communities have access to clean and reliable drinking water. We encourage its passage.”
The two bills arrive as Congress weighs multiple tribal water settlements and infrastructure proposals. Lawmakers say the measures reflect a growing recognition that reliable drinking water is foundational to public health, economic stability and the federal government’s trust responsibilities.
Both bills await further action in their respective committees.
