WASHINGTON -- Senators were surprised Tuesday that all players support bills to end two age-old Utah water fights -- one to help the Shivwits tribe, the other to help the city of Duchesne.
"I've been in Congress 41 years. This is the first time I've participated in a hearing where no one is against anything," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, ranking Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said such support comes because the deals and bills were finally worked out through negotiation, instead of everyone suing each other in court.
Even the Clinton administration was impressed. Deputy Interior Secretary David J. Hayes testified the bills represent "the best approach to resolving contentious issues surrounding water rights in the West," and he urged others to use similar methods.
Both water fights are about 100 years old and result from errors by federal Indian agents in how they filed for water rights.
The Shivwits say agents failed to protect water rights on their reservation near St. George, which were largely swallowed up by neighboring white settlers. That left the band no way to farm its land, and it languished in poverty.
Duchesne, a predominantly white settlement within the Ute Reservation, depends on water rights that Indian agents filed on behalf of the city. But the rights were put in the name of the old U.S. Indian Service, preventing the city from obtaining clear title.
One bill Hatch and Bennett are pushing would give Duchesne clear title to that water. In exchange, Utes wanting to hook up to the city water system would not be assessed normal connection or development fees.
The other bill would implement a complicated deal to provide 4,000 acre-feet of water per year to the Shivwits and end a lawsuit that could have given the tribe almost all the water in the Santa Clara River but likely would take decades and millions of dollars to litigate.
It would provide 2,000 acre-feet of treated wastewater from the St. George Water Reuse Project for agriculture; 100 acre-feet from wells; and 1,900 acre-feet from a new pressurized pipeline from Gunlock Reservoir (which will also be used to stabilize year-round Santa Clara River flows to protect endangered fish).
The bill calls for $24 million in federal funds for the deal. Of that, $15 million would go to St. George for the band's share of the water reuse project costs; $5 million would go to the Shivwits for economic development; $3 million would go for environmental needs; and $1 million would go to a trust fund to help the band cover operation costs of the Santa Clara pipeline.
Hatch, a member of the Indian Affairs Committee, said the Shivwits deal is especially important because the band lives in Washington County, "which is the driest county in Utah, which is the second driest state in the union."
Bennett said such agreements are rare over such a precious resource as water. He joked that control over water is so important in dry areas that "there's an old saying in Utah -- it's better to be head of a ditch than head of a church."
Hatch said Senate leaders have agreed to expedite the bills. Reps. Jim Hansen and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, are moving similar bills in the House, and held hearings on them last month.