Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to amend the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act to make technical corrections to incorporate additional land taken…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill to amend the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act to make technical corrections to incorporate additional land taken into trust and address water contaminants found since the agreement was ratified.
The Pechanga Band of Indians is a federally recognized Tribe whose ancestors have been living in the Temecula Valley for over 10,000 years. After being forced out of their ancestral home, Temeeku, in 1875, the Tribe rebuilt and reestablished their homes nearby, which later became the federally recognized Pechanga Indian Reservation in 1882.
Since the 1950s, the Tribe has been working with the surrounding water users to develop agreements on water rights and to protect the long-term water supply and sustainability of the Santa Margarita River Watershed, including the groundwater in the Wolf Valley Aquifer.
The Tribe reached a settlement agreement with the Rancho California Water District, Eastern Municipal Water District, Metropolitan Water District, and the United States, which was ratified as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, WIIN, Act in 2016 and was made fully enforceable in 2020. This agreement clarified the Tribe's water rights and established mutual cooperative water management agreements with the local water agencies. The agreement also established a water quality fund for addressing salinity caused by the use of recycled and imported water.
However, the water settlement agreement currently only applies to land that was held in trust at the time of the settlement's ratification. The water quality fund is also currently restricted only to desalination activities.
This bill would update the agreement's definition of ``Reservation'' to allow the Tribe to use their water rights on any current and future trust lands. The bill would also expand the possible uses of the water quality fund to include any water quality improvement activities, such as addressing PFAS and other emerging contaminants.
I want to thank Senator Schiff for cosponsoring this bill, and Representative Darrell Issa for introducing companion legislation in the House. I urge my colleagues to support this technical fix that would preserve Pechanga's sovereignty over their water rights.
