I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4188
To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water
System, Montana, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 25, 1996
Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Resources
A BILL
To authorize the construction of the Fort Peck Reservation
Rural Water System, Montana, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fort Peck Reservation
Rural Water System Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) there are insufficient water supplies avail-
able to residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reserva-
tion in Montana, and the water systems that are
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available do not meet minimum health and safety
standards, thereby posing a threat to public health
and safety;
(2) the United States has a trust responsibility
to ensure that adequate and safe water supplies are
available to meet the economic, environmental, water
supply, and public health needs of the Fort Peck In-
dian Reservation; and
(3) the best available, reliable, and safe rural
and municipal water supply to serve the needs of the
Fort Peck Indian Reservation is the Missouri River.
(b) PURPOSE.—The Congress declares that the pur-
poses of sections 1 through 7 are to ensure a safe and
adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supply for
the residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Mon-
tana;
SEC. 3. FORT PECK RESERVATION RURAL WATER SYSTEM.
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary of the Interior
(hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) is authorized
and directed to plan, design, construct, operate, maintain,
and replace a municipal, rural and industrial water sys-
tem, to be known as the Fort Peck Reservation Rural
Water System, as generally described in the report entitled
Technical Report for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural
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Water System and dated July, 1995. The Fort Peck Res-
ervation Rural Water System shall consist of—
(1) pumping and treatment facilities located
along the Missouri River near Poplar, Montana;
(2) pipelines extending from the Missouri River
near Poplar, Montana, throughout the Fort Peck In-
dian Reservation;
(3) facilities to allow for future interconnections
to areas outside the Fort Peck Indian Reservation,
including 
communities 
of 
Plentywood, 
Scobey,
Flaxville, and Culbertson;
(4) distribution and treatment facilities to serve
the needs of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, in-
cluding but not limited to the purchase, improve-
ment and repair of existing water systems, including
systems owned by individual tribal members and
other residents of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation;
(5) appurtenant buildings and access roads;
(6) necessary property and property rights;
(7) electrical power transmission and distribu-
tion facilities necessary for services to water systems
facilities; and
(8) such other pipelines, pumping plants, and
facilities as the Secretary deems necessary or appro-
priate to meet the water supply, economic, public
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health, and environmental needs of the reservation,
including (but not limited to) water storage tanks,
water lines, and other facilities for the Fort Peck
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes and reservation vil-
lages, towns, and municipalities.
(b) AGREEMENT TO PLAN, CONSTRUCT, OPERATE
AND MAINTAIN THE FORT PECK RESERVATION RURAL
WATER SYSTEM:
(1) In carrying out subsection (a), the Sec-
retary shall enter into cooperative agreements with
the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board for planning,
designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and
replacing the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water
System.
(2) Such cooperative agreements shall set forth,
in a manner acceptable to the Secretary and the
Tribal Executive Board—
(A) the responsibilities of the parties for
needs assessment, feasibility, and environmental
studies; engineering and design; construction;
water conservation measures; and administra-
tion of any contracts with respect to this sub-
paragraph;
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(B) the procedures and requirements for
approval and acceptance of such design and
construction; and
(C) the rights, responsibilities, and liabil-
ities of each party to the agreement.
(3) Such cooperative agreements may include
purchase, improvement, and repair of existing water
systems, including systems owned by individual trib-
al members and other residents located on the Fort
Peck Indian Reservation.
(4) The Secretary may unilaterally terminate
any cooperative agreement entered into pursuant to
this section if the Secretary determines that the
quality of construction does not meet all standards
established for similar facilities constructed by the
Secretary or that the operation and maintenance of
the system does not meet conditions acceptable to
the Secretary of fulfilling the obligations of the
United States to the Fort Peck Assiniboine and
Sioux Tribes.
(5) Upon execution of any cooperative agree-
ment authorized upon this section, and in accord-
ance with its terms, the Secretary is authorized to
transfer to the Fort Peck Tribes on a non-reimburs-
able basis, the funds authorized to be appropriated
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by section 6 for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural
Water System.
(c) SERVICE AREA.—The service area of the Fort
Peck Reservation Rural Water System shall be the Fort
Peck Indian Reservation and surrounding communities.
(d) CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS.—The pumping
plants, pipelines, treatment facilities, and other appur-
tenant facilities for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural
Water System shall be planned and constructed to a size
sufficient to meet the municipal, rural, and industrial
water supply requirements of the Fort Peck Indian Res-
ervation and the rural areas north of the Reservation, tak-
ing into account the effects of the water conservation
plans described in section 4.
(e) TITLE TO SYSTEM.—Title to the Fort Peck Res-
ervation Rural Water Supply System shall be held in trust
for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes by the
United States and shall not be transferred without a sub-
sequent Act of Congress.
(f) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION
FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for the
construction of the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water
Supply System until—
(1) the requirements of the National Environ-
mental Policy Act of 1969 have been met; and
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(2) a final engineering report has been ap-
proved by the Secretary.
(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary is au-
thorized and directed to provide such technical assistance
as may be necessary to the Fort Peck Tribes to plan, de-
velop, construct, operate, maintain and replace the Fort
Peck Reservation Rural Water Supply System, including
(but not limited to) operation and management training.
(h) APPLICATION OF INDIAN SELF-DETERMINATION
ACT.—Planning, design, construction and operation of the
Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System within the
Fort Peck Reservation shall be subject to the provisions
of the Indian Self-Determination Act (Public Law 93–638;
U.S.C. 450).
SEC. 4. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.
(a) In order to reduce costs and to reduce water con-
sumption, the Secretary, prior to obligating any construc-
tion funds, shall issue a public notice finding that plans
for the Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System in-
clude prudent and responsible water conservation meas-
ures for the operation of the system where such measures
are shown to be economically and financially feasible. The
Fort Peck Tribes shall develop a water conservation plan
containing definite goals, appropriate water conservation
measures, and a time schedule for meeting the water con-
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servation objectives. The provisions of section 210(c) of
Public Law 97–293 (96 Stat. 1268) shall apply with re-
spect to the systems.
(b) PURPOSE.—The water conservation program re-
quired under this section shall be designed to ensure that
users of water from the water supply system will use the
best practicable technology and management techniques to
conserve water.
SEC 5. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Fort Peck Reservation Rural
Water System shall utilize power from Pick-Sloan for op-
eration. This power shall be deemed to be a project use
pumping requirement of Pick-Sloan.
(b) POWER TO BE USED.—As of the date of enact-
ment of this Act, power identified for future project use
pumping shall be reserved for and made available for the
purpose authorized by subsection (a).
(c) RATE.—The rate for project use power made
available pursuant to subsection (a) shall be the wholesale
firm power rate for Pick-Sloan (Eastern Division) in effect
at the time the power is sold.
(d) ADDITIONAL POWER.—If additional power be-
yond that made available through subsection (b) is re-
quired to meet the pumping requirements of the system,
the Administrator of the Western Area Power Administra-
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tion is authorized to purchase the additional power needed
under such terms and conditions the Administrator deems
appropriate. Expenses associated with such power pur-
chases shall be recovered through a separate power
charge, sufficient to recover these expenses, applied to the
System.
(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
(1) the term ‘‘System’’ means the Fort Peck
Reservation Rural Water System; and
(2) the term ‘‘Pick Sloan’’ means the Pick-
Sloan Missouri Basin Program authorized by section
9 of the Act of December 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 891;
commonly referred to as the Flood Control Act of
1944).
SEC. 6. AUTHROIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) PLANNING, DESIGN, AND
CONSTRUCTION.—
There are authorized to be appropriated $114,734,300 for
the planning, design, and construction of the Fort Peck
Reservation Rural Water System, the system defined
under the provisions of section 3. Such funds are author-
ized to be appropriated only through the end of the fifth
fiscal year after which construction funds are first made
available. The funds authorized to be appropriated by the
first sentence of this section, less any amounts previously
obligated for the System, may be increased or decreased
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by such amounts as may be justified by reason of ordinary
fluctuations in development costs incurred after January
1, 1995, as indicated by engineering costs indices applica-
ble for the type of construction involved.
(b) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF FORT PECK
RESERVATION RURAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—There
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary for the operation and maintenance of the Fort
Peck Reservation Rural Water System.
SEC. 7. WATER RIGHTS.
Nothing in sections 1 through 12 shall be construed
to—
(1) impair the validity of or preempt any provi-
sion of State water law, or of any interstate compact
governing water;
(2) alter the rights of any State to any appro-
priated share of the waters of any body or surface
or ground water, whether determined by past or fu-
ture interstate compacts, or by past or future legis-
lative or final judicial allocations;
(3) preempt or modify any State or Federal law
or interstate compact dealing with water quality or
disposal;
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(4) confer upon any non-Federal entity the abil-
ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any
stream or to any groundwater resources; or
(5) affect any water rights of the Fort Peck
Tribes, whether located within or without the exter-
nal boundaries of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation,
based on treaty, compact, executive orders, agree-
ment, Act of Congress, aboriginal title, the Winters
doctrine (Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564
(1908)), or otherwise. Nothing contained in this sec-
tion or in section 1 through 7, however, is intended
to validate or invalidate any assertion of the exist-
ence, nonexistence or extinguishment of any water
rights, or compacts thereto, held by the Fort Peck
Tribes, or any other Indian Tribe or individual In-
dian under Federal or State law.
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