Tule River Tribal water rights bill reintroduced in Congress

An effort that has lasted more than 50 years to secure water rights for the Tule River Indian Reservation continues.

And it’s hoped the passage of a bill that has been reintroduced can prevent litigation happening between the Tribe and the U.S. Government.

U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein both of California have re-introduced legislation to formally recognize the Tule River Tribe’s reserved water rights to 5,828 acrefeet/year of surface water from the South Fork of the Tule River, the Tule River Water Rights Settlement Act. For decades, the Tule River Tribe has worked with the federal government and downstream water users to enact the settlement agreement. In introducing the bill, Padilla’s office stated the legislation would avoid costly and adversarial litigation for the tribe and the U.S. government.

“This legislation would fulfill the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities to the Tule River Tribe by ensuring that the tribe is able to access the water resources they were promised and to provide clean drinking water to their people,” Padilla’s office stated.

While this has been a wet year so far, Tule River Tribal officials have stated in drought years, the Tribe goes through every year what East Porterville went through in 2015 that made national news.

“Water is a sacred and necessary resource for tribal nations and for all people,” Padilla said. “My bill would help provide water security to Tule River citizens now and for generations to come.

“It is long past time for the federal government to live up to its trust and treaty responsibilities to the Tule River Tribe. We must codify this water settlement and ensure the continued strength of tribal nations now and into the future.”

“The Tule River Tribe has worked for decades to restore sufficient water access on its land,” Feinstein said. “Having reached a settlement with the Department of the Interior, the tribe deserves to have this agreement codified by Congress. I’m proud to support Senator Padilla’s legislation to make official the agreement between the Tule River Tribe, the federal government and downstream water users.”

“The Tule River Tribe is tremendously grateful for the persistence of Senator Padilla and Senator Feinstein for reintroducing the Tule River Water Rights Set

tlement Act so quickly at the start of the new Congress,” Tule River Tribal Council Chairman Neil Peyron said. “The legislation resolves over 100 years of water claims by the Tule River Tribe and provides certainty of our right to clean water. We hope to build on the significant progress made last session and get the bill signed into law this session.

“The bill captures decades of hard work on a real solution in our drought-stricken homelands and is also beneficial to our neighbors, the downstream agricultural community, that depend on the South Fork of the Tule River. We appreciate our senators taking action to end the Tule River’s water crisis as soon as possible.”

The tribe’s effort to secure its federally reserved water rights has been ongoing since 1971. The tribe has extensively studied possible storage options and entered into an agreement with downstream water users to ensure their proposed storage project wouldn’t adversely impact their water, the 2007 Settlement Agreement.

The legislation reintroduced by Padilla and Feinstein would ratify that agreement and is supported by the downstream water users. It would also transfer nearly 10,000 acres of federal lands in the Sequoia National Forest into trust so the tribe can manage the headwaters of the watershed.