Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 1.djvu/773

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PUBLIC LAW 106-263—AUG. 18, 2000 114 STAT. 737 Public Law 106-263 106th Congress An Act To provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Shivwits Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the "Shivwits Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Water Rights Settlement Act". SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) It is the official policy of the United States, in keeping with its trust responsibility to Indian tribes, to promote Indian self-determination and economic self-sufRciency, and to settle the water rights claims of Indian tribes to avoid lengthy and costly litigation, (2) Any meaningful policy of Indian self-determination and economic self-sufficiency requires the development of viable Indian reservation economies. (3) The quantification of water rights and the development of water use facilities is essential to the development of viable Indian reservation economies, particularly in the arid Western States. (4) The Act of March 3, 1891, provided for the temporary support of the Shebit (or Shivwits) tribe of Indians in Washington County, Utah, and appropriated moneys for the purchase of improvements on lands along the Santa Clara River for the use of said Indians. Approximately 26,880 acres in the same area were set aside as a reservation for the Shivwits Band by Executive order dated April 21, 1916. Additional lands were added to the reservation by Congress on May 28, 1937. (5) The waters of the Santa Clara River are fully appropriated except during high flow periods. A water right was awarded to the United States for the benefit of the Shivwits Band in the 1922 adjudication entitled St. George Santa Clara Field Co., et al. v. Newcastle Reclamation Co., et al., for "1.38 cubic feet of water per second for the irrigation of 83.2 acres of land and for culinary, domestic, and stock watering purposes", but no provision has been made for water resource development to benefit the Shivwits Band. In general, the remainder of the Santa Clara River's flow is either diverted on the reservation and delivered through a canal devoted exclusively to non-Indian use that traverses the reservation to a reservoir owned by the Ivins Irrigation Company; dedicated Aug. 18, 2000 [H.R. 3291] Shivwits Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Water Rights Settlement Act.