TESTER DELVES INTO BUDGET SHORTFALLS PLAGUING TRIBAL IRRIGATION PROGRAMS Apsaalooke News Services Senator Jon Tester, Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, examined the state of crumbling irrigation infrastructure in Indian Country, its impact on tribes and their economies and sought potential solutions. “Irrigation programs are vitally important for economic development, and the infrastructure often benefits both the Indian and non-Indian communities,” Tester said. “But these systems have been allowed to deteriorate for decades. There has been some progress in better budget planning for these programs, but we need to do more.” In 2006, a GAO study found that irrigation projects across Indian Country had hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance needs. More recent estimates by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) place these maintenance needs at approximately $600 million. The BIA manages more than 100 non-revenue generating irrigation systems in Indian Country, which are small and mostly used for small-scale subsistence farming and gardening. The BIA also has 15 irrigation projects that are larger in scale, encompassing nearly 6,200 miles of canals and 55,000 irrigation structures, such as dams and floodgates. Unlike the irrigation systems, irrigation projects are supposed to recover their full operating and maintenance costs by charging fees to individual Indian and non-Indian water users. The projects generate $34.7 million annually, far short of what is needed to operate and maintain the infrastructure. This gap has created a maintenance backlog of $598 million for the 15 projects. Larry Roberts, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior outlined the problem, “Recent BIA studies show that the irrigation projects in Indian Country are in various states of disrepair. Many of the key structures still functioning today are the same structures that were constructed over 100 years ago. Historically, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has not charged sufficient Operation, Maintenance & Rehabilitation rates to allow for adequate project maintenance and replacement. Over time, this has resulted in less maintenance and a steady increase in deferred maintenance. BIA has taken measureable steps to acquire better information about the irrigation projects to better understand the deferred maintenance backlog.” Darrin Old Coyote, Chairman of the Crow Nation said, “Over the years, the tribe asserted that the BIA’s role in overseeing and maintaining our irrigation system fell short of the United States’ trust obligation to the tribe. Every Indian irrigation system is unique and poses its own challenges. In our case, we are dealing with several decades of deferred maintenance that must be remedied on a strategic and forward-thinking approach in order to make the most out of the Crow Water Settlement funds.” Chairman Tester is a sponsor of the Authorized Rural Water Project Completion Act (S. 715), which includes funds to improve maintenance of tribal irrigation systems.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:29:47 +0000
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