Title: A resolution recognizing the critical importance of access to reliable, clean drinking water for Native Americans and Alaska Natives and confirming the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure such water access.
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that access to reliable and clean drinking water is critically important to the health and welfare of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Further, the resolution calls upon the federal government to provide water access to tribal members and communities.


[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 141 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 141

   Recognizing the critical importance of access to reliable, clean 
 drinking water for Native Americans and Alaska Natives and confirming 
   the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure such water 
                                access.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 25, 2021

   Mr. Bennet (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Warren, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Merkley, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Booker, Mr. Tester, 
and Mr. Schatz) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Recognizing the critical importance of access to reliable, clean 
 drinking water for Native Americans and Alaska Natives and confirming 
   the responsibility of the Federal Government to ensure such water 
                                access.

Whereas access to reliable, clean drinking water is an essential human need that 
        is critical to the public health, well-being, educational attainment, 
        and economic development of all communities in the United States;
Whereas many countries, along with the United Nations, have recognized the 
        urgency of water access by passing laws or resolutions regarding the 
        human right to water, including recognition of these needs among 
        indigenous peoples and establishing aggressive targets for achieving 
        universal access to this basic service;
Whereas access to reliable, clean drinking water has long been a significant 
        problem in many Tribal communities and in many Alaska Native Villages, 
        such that nearly half of all Native American households still do not 
        have access to reliable water sources, clean drinking water, and are 
        significantly more likely than White households to lack indoor plumbing;
Whereas reliable, clean drinking water may be unavailable to these households 
        for a number of reasons, including because--

    (1) there is no piped water system connecting to the house;

    (2) the water available to the household does not meet minimum 
protective standards;

    (3) the water infrastructure is deteriorating or insufficient; or

    (4) Indian Tribes face challenges in supporting the operation and 
maintenance needs of existing water infrastructure;

Whereas Federal programs administered through the Indian Health Service of the 
        Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection 
        Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and other Federal and State 
        agencies have been unsuccessful in developing the infrastructure 
        necessary to provide reliable, clean drinking water for some Tribal 
        communities;
Whereas many Indian Tribes have significant unresolved claims for federally 
        reserved water rights, many of which have been unresolved for decades 
        and which may not be resolved for many years to come, due in part to the 
        complex and significant issues typically involved in water rights 
        adjudication and settlements;
Whereas the development of water infrastructure in Tribal communities has 
        frequently been conditioned on the settlement of such Tribal reserved 
        water rights, and has been prevented or delayed by continuing 
        uncertainty over the status of Tribal water rights, by the years-long 
        process of Tribal water rights settlements, or by continued conflict 
        over the quantification of Tribal reserved water rights in State water 
        rights adjudications;
Whereas the quantity of water that would be required to supply reliable, clean 
        drinking water to provide for the basic needs of the residents of Tribal 
        communities and in Alaska Native Villages are typically only a small 
        fraction of the total quantity of Tribal reserved water rights;
Whereas the trust responsibility of the Federal Government to Tribal nations 
        requires the Federal Government to ensure the survival and welfare of 
        Indian Tribes and people, and the failure to provide basic water service 
        cannot be reconciled with this trust responsibility;
Whereas the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
        5301 et seq.) affirmed the trust responsibility of the Federal 
        Government to support Tribal self-governance and self-determination, and 
        these goals cannot be fully realized without addressing inequities such 
        as ensuring access to reliable, clean drinking water for every Tribal 
        community;
Whereas the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on 
        Native American people due to factors including persistent economic 
        disadvantages in Tribal communities and in Alaska Native Villages, 
        racial inequity, lack of access to adequate health care, and lack of 
        public health infrastructure, including access to running water; and
Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a stark reminder that access to 
        reliable, clean drinking water to support basic hygiene is a matter of 
        life or death for all citizens of the United States: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the Senate that--
                    (A) access to reliable, clean drinking water in 
                Tribal communities and in Alaska Native Villages is an 
                essential human need, is critical to the health, well-
                being, and economic development of people living on 
                such communities and in such villages, and is integral 
                to maintaining the public health of the entire United 
                States;
                    (B) settlement or adjudication of Tribal claims of 
                reserved water rights is not and should not be a 
                prerequisite to the provision of this basic human 
                service to households located in Tribal communities and 
                in Alaska Native Villages, nor should the provision of 
                such basic human services be used to leverage the 
                resolution of Tribal reserved water rights and claims; 
                and
                    (C) the provision of reliable, clean drinking water 
                to support the domestic requirements of Tribal members 
                and Tribal communities is an essential component of the 
                Federal trust responsibility to Indian Tribes; and
            (2) the Senate--
                    (A) calls upon the Federal Executive Branch to work 
                in collaboration with Tribal governments and with any 
                relevant State and local jurisdictions to expedite the 
                planning, design, development, and operation of the 
                infrastructure necessary to provide reliable, clean 
                drinking water in Tribal communities and in Alaska 
                Native Villages, and to inform Congress of further 
                authorizations and expenditures that may be necessary 
                to meet this objective;
                    (B) calls upon the Federal Executive Branch to 
                employ a ``whole of government'' approach to ensure the 
                provision of reliable, clean drinking water to 
                households in Tribal communities and in Alaska Native 
                Villages and to create an interagency task force 
                consisting of high-level representatives from 
                departments and agencies with authority to provide 
                water infrastructure that will work to remove barriers, 
                optimize funding, and make immediate and tangible 
                progress on meeting this objective and report annually 
                to Congress on such progress; and
                    (C) calls upon the Federal Executive Branch, State 
                governments, and affected water agencies to 
                affirmatively support de-coupling the planning, design, 
                development, and operation of such infrastructure from 
                the settlement or adjudication of Tribal reserved water 
                rights, and to support the development of that 
                infrastructure necessary to provide reliable, clean 
                drinking water in Tribal communities independent of 
                such settlements or adjudications.
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