Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022

Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022

This act authorizes, ratifies, and confirms the Hualapai Tribe water rights settlement agreement negotiated between the tribe, the United States, Arizona, and others, thus satisfying the tribe's claims for groundwater and surface water rights to water in Arizona, including the Verde River, the Bill Williams River, and the Colorado River.

The act outlines the tribe's water rights, including the right to divert, use, and store 4,000 acre-feet of agricultural priority water of the Central Arizona Project that was previously allocated to nontribal agricultural entities, but retained by the Department of the Interior for reallocation to tribes in Arizona pursuant to the Central Arizona Project Settlement Act of 2004. Interior must reallocate this priority water to the tribe, firm through 2107 a specified amount of the water, and enter into a water delivery contract with the tribe.

The act directs Interior to establish the Hualapai Water Trust Fund Account. Amounts deposited in the trust fund account shall be made available to the tribe for specified purposes, including to construct the Hualapai Water Project. The project must be designed to divert, treat, and convey up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River for municipal, commercial, and industrial uses on the Hualapai Reservation.

Additionally, the act establishes in the Treasury the Hualapai Water Settlement Implementation Fund Account. Amounts in this account must be used to carry out groundwater monitoring and an estimate for groundwater withdrawals in the Truxton Basin outside the boundaries of the tribe's reservation.

The act adds certain land in Arizona to the tribe's reservation and also authorizes Interior to take specified land into trust for the benefit of the tribe. In the future, land located outside the reservation may only be taken into trust through an act of Congress.

The act outlines (1) waivers, releases, and retentions of claims by the tribe and the United States under the settlement agreement; and (2) a limited waiver of sovereign immunity by the United States and the tribe with respect to certain claims.

The act repeals the settlement agreement (except for provisions related to land added to the reservation and land taken into trust) if Interior does not publish by April 15, 2029, a statement of findings that specified conditions have been fulfilled (including that Interior has executed the required water delivery contract).