Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Rio Grande Pueblos Irrigation Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2008. This legislation is based on recommendations made by the 2000 report by the Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs entitled Pueblo Irrigation Facilities Rehabilitation Report. This report identifies the serious needs that exist in rehabilitating Pueblo Indian irrigation infrastructure, and more importantly, the lack of any existing program to meet these challenges.

The 18 Pueblos of the Rio Grande basin have historically sustained themselves through agriculture, irrigating their crops with water from the Rio Grande watershed. However, the number of Pueblo irrigation works in serious disrepair has placed this way of life in jeopardy. In many cases, diversion structures and other facilities are unsafe, barely operable, and wholly inefficient, thereby preventing the irrigation of historical farmland. Despite the time and effort the Pueblo people have committed to operating and maintaining these irrigation systems, the tribes lack the financial and technical resources to carry out the necessary improvements by themselves. 

Unfortunately, according to a recent GAO Report on the Bureau of Indian Affairs' irrigation program, it appears that the BIA also lacks the resources necessary to maintain irrigation infrastructure on Indian land. Given this and the BIA's historical lack of attention to the issue, it is clear that the Bureau of Reclamation may be best suited to provide the technical expertise needed to assist the Pueblos. Over the last 5 years, Reclamation has funded a number of water conservation efforts within its irrigation projects in New Mexico. The work that's been done has been highly beneficial, and it's time to include the Rio Grande Pueblos in that effort. 

Accordingly, this bill directs the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, to work with the eighteen Pueblos in the Rio Grande basin to assess Pueblo irrigation infrastructure and initiate projects to rehabilitate and repair such infrastructure on Pueblo lands. Moreover, the activity authorized in the bill is consistent with the goals of Reclamation's Water 2025 program. Recognizing the limited resources available within Reclamation, though, the bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to work with BIA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers to identify opportunities to use the authorities of those agencies to collaborate on projects that make sense to all involved. 

By focusing Federal resources and expertise on this problem now, the federal government, as part of its trust responsibility, will help prevent further deterioration of Pueblo irrigation systems and any additional rehabilitation costs in the future. The Rio Grande Pueblos will benefit markedly from increased agricultural productivity, increased water conservation, and overall safer facilities. More importantly however, these improvements have the capacity to assist the Pueblos in sustaining their historical way of life, both economically and culturally. Finally, the overall health of the Rio Grande basin will likely benefit through increased efficiency in water use. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.