II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1527

To encourage and to assist in the permanent settlement of all litigation

and other claims to the waters of the Walker River Basin and to

conserve and stabilize the water quantity and quality for fish habitat

and recreation in the Walker River Basin, consistent with the Walker

River Decree issued by the United States District Court for the District

of Nevada.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 13, 1997

Mr. REID introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To encourage and to assist in the permanent settlement

of all litigation and other claims to the waters of the

Walker River Basin and to conserve and stabilize the

water quantity and quality for fish habitat and recreation

in the Walker River Basin, consistent with the Walker

River Decree issued by the United States District Court

for the District of Nevada.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2

•S 1527 IS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Walker River Basin

3 Act of 1997’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

5 The purposes of this Act are—

6 (1) to facilitate efforts to negotiate the perma7 nent settlement of all litigation and other claims to

8 the waters of the Walker River Basin, including

9 those of the Walker River Paiute Tribe and Walker

10 Lake;

11 (2) to encourage an equitable apportionment of

12 the waters of the Walker River between California

13 and Nevada;

14 (3) to direct the management of water rights

15 acquired by the United States on the Walker River;

16 (4) to protect the fish and wildlife associated

17 habitats in the Walker River Basin of California and

18 Nevada;

19 (5) to stabilize the water quality and quantity

20 of Walker Lake at acceptable levels;

21 (6) to protect recreation resources associated

22 with the Walker River and its reservoirs, and Walker

23 Lake;

24 (7) to protect and preserve agriculture in the

25 Walker River Basin; and

26 (8) to enhance stream flows.
3

•S 1527 IS

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) LOCALLY AFFECTED INTERESTS.—The

4 term ‘‘locally affected interests’’ means, collectively,

5 Mineral County of Nevada, the Walker River Basin

6 Water Users Association, the Walker River Irriga7 tion District, the Walker River Paiute Indian Tribe,

8 and Mono County, California.

9 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

10 the Secretary of the Interior.

11 (3) WALKER RIVER BASIN.—The term ‘‘Walker

12 River Basin’’ means the hydrologic area that natu13 rally drains into the Walker River or Walker Lake,

14 located in Mineral County, Nevada.

15 (4) WALKER RIVER DECREE.—The term

16 ‘‘Walker River Decree’’ means the final decree in the

17 case of United States v. Walker River Irrigation

18 District, United States District Court for the Dis19 trict of Nevada, Equity No. C–125, filed April 15,

20 1936, as amended April 24, 1940.

21 (5) WALKER RIVER BASIN WATER USERS ASSO22 CIATION.—The term ‘‘Walker River Basin Water

23 Users Association’’ means a nonprofit corporation

24 whose membership includes irrigators in California

25 and Nevada who possess water rights pursuant to
4

•S 1527 IS

1 the Walker River Decree, but not including the

2 Walker River Paiute Tribe.

3 SEC. 4. SETTLEMENT OF WALKER RIVER CLAIMS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, the locally affected

5 interests, the State of Nevada, and the State of California

6 shall initiate negotiations to explore the potential for com7 prehensive and permanent settlement of all claims to the

8 waters of the Walker River, in California and Nevada.

9 (b) REPORT.—If the terms of any settlement nego10 tiated under subsection (a) require legislation by Con11 gress, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report de12 scribing the necessary legislation.

13 SEC. 5. STUDIES AND PROJECTS.

14 (a) FEDERAL ASSISTANCE.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—To assist the locally affected

16 interests and the States of Nevada and California in

17 negotiating a settlement under section 4, the Sec18 retary may provide funds and technical assistance

19 for the development and implementation of studies,

20 pilot projects, or long-term projects, including stud21 ies and projects for the following purposes:

22 (A) In accordance with Nevada law, Cali23 fornia law, and other applicable law, a locally

24 managed Walker River water bank to facilitate

25 voluntary water transfers (including the trans-
5

•S 1527 IS

1 fer of water to facilitate water conservation

2 under paragraph (2)) within the Walker River

3 Basin in the States of Nevada and California.

4 (B) Water conservation, compatible with

5 local land use, designed to encourage the locally

6 affected interests to voluntarily conserve water

7 in the Walker River Basin.

8 (C) Enhancement of stream flows through

9 phreatophyte control and debris control and re10 moval on the Walker River and in Walker Lake,

11 to protect and improve water quality in Walker

12 Lake and to improve the efficiency of agricul13 tural water use.

14 (D) Improvement of agricultural water

15 management practices in the Walker River

16 Basin.

17 (E) Improvement of water quality in Walk18 er Lake through the construction and operation

19 of facilities designed to address problems in

20 Walker Lake associated with decreased oxygen

21 and increased salinity.

22 (F) A program to allow any or all of the

23 locally affected interests to extract and use

24 ground water in place of surface water entitle25 ments.
6

•S 1527 IS

1 (G) A ground water recharge program.

2 (H) A facility to assist in acclimating

3 Lahanton cutthroat trout to Walker Lake.

4 (I) A program to facilitate the purchase

5 and transfer of water rights for use in Walker

6 Lake or to otherwise benefit the environmental

7 needs of the Walker River system.

8 (2) PARTICIPATION IN WATER BANK BY THE

9 TRIBE.—The Walker River water bank under para10 graph (1)(A) may include water held by the Walker

11 River Paiute Indian Tribe pursuant to reserved

12 water rights confirmed in the Walker River Decree,

13 or other water rights held by the Walker River Pai14 ute Indian Tribe. The Walker River Paiute Indian

15 Tribe shall be entitled to both purchase from and

16 transfer water to the Walker River Water Bank.

17 (b) FEDERAL SHARE.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the

19 cost of a study or project under subsection (a) shall

20 be 75 percent, with the remaining 25 percent allo21 cated among the locally affected interests and the

22 State of California and the State of Nevada.

23 (2) IN-KIND SERVICES.—The locally affected in24 terests may pay all or a portion of the non-Federal

25 share of costs in the form of in-kind services.
7

•S 1527 IS

1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be

3 appropriated to the Secretary to fund studies, pilot

4 projects, and long-term projects under subsection (a)

5 $10,000,000.

6 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Funds made available

7 under this section shall remain available until ex8 pended.

9 SEC. 6. WATER RIGHTS HELD BY THE UNITED STATES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary or any other de11 partment or agency of the United States has acquired or

12 in the future acquires water from or water rights in the

13 Walker River and its tributaries, the water and water

14 rights—

15 (1) may not be changed except in compliance

16 with the administrative rules and regulations regard17 ing the change of point of diversion, manner of use,

18 or place of use of water of the Walker River and its

19 tributaries adopted pursuant to the Walker River

20 Decree;

21 (2) shall be managed by the Secretary or other

22 department or agency for purposes consistent with

23 this Act, including the use of water to augment

24 instream flows for use within the Walker River

25 Water Bank or to otherwise benefit Walker Lake,
8

•S 1527 IS

1 after consultation with the State of Nevada and the

2 State of California to ensure compliance with appli3 cable State laws;

4 (3) may not be changed without the approval of

5 the Walker River Irrigation District, if the change

6 involves stored water from Bridgeport or Topaz Res7 ervoirs; and

8 (4) if the rights are appurtenant to land within

9 the boundaries of the Walker River Irrigation Dis10 trict, may not be exercised for any purpose unless

11 the United States has paid all assessments associ12 ated with the land and water rights to the Walker

13 River Irrigation District.

14 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) does not apply

15 to water rights held or acquired by the United States in

16 trust for the Walker River Paiute Indian Tribe.

17 SEC. 7. MORATORIUM.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Until the date that is 1 year after

19 the date of enactment of this Act and during the period

20 in which a study or pilot project under section 5(a) is un21 dertaken, no court or administrative tribunal shall have

22 jurisdiction to hear or determine a claim or matter related

23 to a claim for additional water for the Walker River Indian

24 Reservation or for Walker Lake or a claim to amend the

25 Walker River Decree in any manner.
9

•S 1527 IS

1 (b) TOLLING.—Any applicable period of limitation

2 shall be tolled during the moratorium period under sub3 section (a).

4 (c) NO LIMITATION ON JURISDICTION.—Nothing in

5 this Act affects the jurisdiction of the United States Dis6 trict Court for the District of Nevada to ensure that own7 ers of water rights recognized in the Walker River Decree

8 receive the quantity of water to which the owners are enti9 tled under the Decree.

10 SEC. 8. ACCESS TO INFORMATION.

11 No person may use information furnished in connec12 tion with or derived from a study or pilot project under

13 section 5(a) for any purpose (including introduction as evi14 dence in any court or administrative proceeding) except

15 the purpose of facilitating settlement under section 4.

16 SEC. 9. COMPLIANCE WITH WALKER RIVER DECREE.

17 The Secretary shall not take any action that would

18 undermine, contradict, or diminish the water rights con19 firmed in the Walker River Decree other than action that

20 the Secretary determines is necessary and within the au21 thority of the Secretary as trustee for the Walker River

22 Paiute Indian Tribe and members of the Tribe.

23 SEC. 10. EXISTING AUTHORITY.

24 Except as provided in section 7, nothing in this Act

25 affects the authority of the Secretary, the Walker River
10

•S 1527 IS

1 Paiute Indian Tribe, the State of Nevada, or the State

2 of California in existence on the date of enactment of this

3 Act.

Æ