Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 92 Part 1.djvu/463

 PUBLIC LAW 95-328—JULY 28, 1978

92 STAT. 409

Public Law 95-328 95th Congress An Act Relating to the settlement between the United States and the Ak-Chin Indian community of certain water right claims of such community against the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) the Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of Congress to resolve, without costly and lengthy litigation, the claims of the Ak-Chin Indian community for water based upon failure of the United States to meet its trust responsibility to the Indian people provided reasonable settlement can be reached. (b) The Congress hereby finds and declares that— (1) the Ak-Chin Indian community relies for its economic sustenance on farming, and that ground water, necessary thereto, is declining at a rate which will make it uneconomical to farm within the next few years; (2) at the time of the settlement of the reservation, it was the obligation and intention of the United States to provide water to the Ak-Chin Indian Reservation, and such obligation remains unfulfilled; (3) it is likely that the United States would be held liable for its failure to provide water and for allowing ground water beneath the reservation to be mined; (4) there exists a critical situation at Ak-Chin in that there is not sufficient economically recoverable ground water beneath the reservation to sustain a farming operation until a permanent source of water suitable for irrigation on the reservation can be delivered; (5) this Act is proposed to settle the Ak-Chin Indian community's claim for water by meeting the emergency needs of the Ak-Chin community through construction of a well field and water delivery system from nearby Federal lands and by obligating the United States to meet the Ak-Chin community's needs for a permanent supply of water in a fixed amount to be available upon a date certain, in exchange for a release of all claims such community has against the United States for failing to act consistently with its trust responsibility to protect and deliver the water resources of the community; and (6) it is the intention of this Act not to discriminate against any non-Indian landowners or other persons, but to fulfill the historic and legal obligation of the United States toward the Ak-Chin Indian community. SEC. 2. (a) For the purposes of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") shall undertake engineering and hydrological studies as may be necessary to determine whether there exists, on Federal lands near the Ak-Chin Indian Reservation, a source of ground water which could be taken, on an annual basis, for use in connection with any contract entered into pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, subject to the provisions in (c)(2).

July 28, 197& [S. 1582]

Ak-Chin Indians, w*^^ •8*1* claims,

Studies.

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