Federal Water Tap, July 15: $5 Billion Tribal Water Rights Settlement Introduced in Congress

The Rundown

• Senators introduce bipartisan bill to settle Colorado River and other water rights for Navajo, Hopi, and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes.
• FEMA finalizes new standards for using federal funds to rebuild in a floodplain.
• U.S. and Canada agree to principles for updating Columbia River Treaty.
• U.S. Geological survey publishes reports on nitrogen pollution of Long Island groundwater, Kansas River water quality trends, and hydraulic fracturing in eastern Ohio.
• Federal resources are useful for tracking wildfires.
• GAO finds FEMA’s use of disaster funds for Covid response is straining its finances.
• EPA selects four “centers of excellence” for stormwater research and outreach.
• White House science council schedules a meeting on federal response to groundwater risks.

And lastly, the State Department anticipates the White House will release a climate security and resilience strategy later this summer.

“How can our diplomats work to preserve stability across the Sahel in NATO’s southern neighborhood, for example, without taking into account the rapid drought and conditions that the region is experiencing, and how extremist groups are taking advantage of food and water insecurity across populations? How can we have security dialogues with our partners across the Indo-Pacific without addressing the growing toll of sea level rise and more extreme weather?” – Richard Verma, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, speaking at a NATO summit side event on climate change and security on July 9, in Washington, D.C. Verma said that the White House would release a framework on climate security and resilience later this summer.

By the Numbers

28 Percent: Share of nitrogen loading in Long Island’s groundwater that came from septic systems, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report. The study measured nitrogen loading from 1900 to 2019 for six sources, including air deposition, agriculture, and pet waste. Though septic systems were the largest aggregate source of nitrogen in the 120-year study period, fertilizer from lawns and golf courses rose to the top spot in the last two decades. Nitrogen pollutes groundwater and fuels harmful algal blooms in coastal waters. It is a major environmental problem on Long Island.

In context: Ecosystems Are Dying as Long Island Contends with a Nitrogen Bomb

4: Organizations selected by the EPA as “centers of excellence” for stormwater research and outreach. The $5 million grant will enable the University of New Hampshire, University of Oklahoma, Nevada System of Higher Education, and Center for Watershed Protection to research new technologies for managing stormwater and to provide technical assistance to utilities.

News Briefs

Tribal Water Rights Settlement Introduced
A bill introduced in the Senate would settle tribal water claims in Arizona to the Colorado River and other water sources while also providing $5 billion for infrastructure to access the water.

Decades in the making, the proposed settlement affects the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and San Juan Southern Paiute and their rights to the Colorado River, Little Colorado River, local aquifers, and washes.

Elements of the funding include: $1.7 billion for a potable water pipeline from Lake Powell to the three tribes, $2.7 billion for a Navajo Nation trust fund, $508 million for a Hopi trust fund, and nearly $30 million for a San Juan Southern Paiute trust fund.

The trust funds will pay for things like water infrastructure projects, operation and maintenance, renewable energy, and agriculture.

The settlement offers the opportunity for leasing and exchanging certain water rights to entities outside the reservation.

FEMA Finalizes Rebuilding
After enduring years of presidential flip flopping, FEMA finalized new standards for using federal funds to rebuild or improve structures in floodplains.

Initiated by the Obama administration, revoked by Trump, and reinstated by Biden, the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard is intended to reduce future flood damages. It does so in several ways.

First, the standard allows FEMA three options to expand the definition of a floodplain – how wide and how deep the waters could run. This would, in turn, expand the area at risk of flooding. It would require structures within this larger floodplain to be raised to a higher elevation.

Second, the standard requires consideration of natural features – aka green infrastructure – to attenuate flooding or restore the floodplain.

The standard goes into effect on September 9, 2024.

Columbia River Treaty
U.S. and Canadian negotiators agreed to four main principles for updating the Columbia River Treaty, which governs certain aspects of the shared river.

The original treaty was ratified 60 years ago and dealt mainly with hydropower and flood control.

An updated treaty will continue to focus on those aims – and change the formula for sharing hydroelectric output – but it also adds Indigenous input on ecosystem protection and water flows that assist salmon.

The final text of the updated treaty still must be written and then approved by lawmakers in each country.

Studies and Reports

Kansas River Water Quality Trends
Water pollution in the Kansas River has generally improved since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report.

The report reviewed long-term trends for nine pollutants in both low-flow and average-flow conditions.

Seven of the nine pollutants had downward trends in low-flow conditions. The two that rose: orthophosphate and total phosphorus. The basin is 80 percent farmland, mostly for corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Fracking in Eastern Ohio
The U.S. Geological Survey also published a report on the effect of hydraulic fracturing in eastern Ohio on streamflow and pollution.

The study found no decrease in streamflow near fracking sites. Water quality changes were more difficult to assess because of legacy pollutants from coal mining. Some samples had high brine or salt concentrations, but none exceeded state standards for aquatic life.

FEMA Disaster Funds for Covid Response
Congress allowed FEMA to use its disaster relief fund – normally used for hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes – to respond to the pandemic. But government watchdogs found that the shift has increased the risk that FEMA will run short of money.

The cost, initially estimated at $17.6 billion, kept climbing, according to the Government Accountability Office report. As of this spring, FEMA expects to spend $171.6 billion – ten times as much.

Congress fills the fund through the standard budget process and tops it off with supplemental funding when money runs short. But the large expected outlays for Covid response are a budgetary strain that would require additional funding for the fund to stay solvent.

“FEMA is again projecting that expected costs will exceed available DRF funding in fiscal year 2024, which may necessitate either supplemental appropriations or the same measures as fiscal year 2023 to pause new obligations for some projects,” the GAO says.

On the Radar

White House Groundwater Meeting
The president’s science advisory council will meet on July 22, in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss the nation’s groundwater risks.

Earlier this year, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology announced it would form a working group to recommend federal actions to address groundwater sustainability.

The workshop next week will focus on three areas: governance and incentives, data gaps and opportunities, and community empowerment and engagement.

Request to participate by July 16 by emailing PCAST@ostp.eop.gov with your expertise.

Fire-Tracking Resources
Now that the hot months are upon us, fires are flaring up.

The federal government has a number of tools for tracking what’s burning.

NASA and the U.S. Forest Service developed a mapping tool called FIRMS.

For a particular fire, updates are posted to InciWeb.

Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton