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Attorney: Steve
Moore, Walter
Echo-Hawk, Kim Gottschalk
Case Update
On June 14, 2006, the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in an effort to enforce express promises made to the Tribe to build the Plum Creek Reservoir Project in the Upper Delaware and tributaries watershed. The Nemaha-Brown Watershed Joint Board # 7, the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the State of Kansas made these promises to the Tribe over a decade ago. In the intervening years these parties have been actively developing the water resources of the watershed, resulting in the near depletion of the Tribe's senior federal water rights in the drainage.
The water quality on the reservation is so poor it is harmful to human health and unsuitable for human consumption according to the EPA. The water supply is in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, Public Law 93-523 (Dec 12, 1974), 42 USC Section 300j et seq. As a result the Kickapoo people are unable to safely drink, bathe or cook with tap water. The Plum Creek Reservoir Project is the most cost-effective and reliable means by which the Tribe can free its members from the dire living conditions forced upon them by their unreliable and dangerous water supply.
A thirty-year era of unreliable water supplies on the Kickapoo Reservation located in Brown County, Kansas has disabled the Kickapoo Tribe from providing basic municipal services necessary to protect its residents from illness, fire, and unsanitary living conditions. There is not enough water on the reservation to provide basic municipal services to the community: The Tribe is unable to provide local schools with reliable, safe running water. The Fire department cannot provide adequate fire protection due to the water shortage.
In early August of 2007 the parties expressed an interest in taking a break from the litigation track to explore mutual benefits from settlement. The US, the State and the local watershed district all concede the existence of the Tribe's senior Winters water rights; the real issue ultimately will be the amount of water to satisfy the Tribe's needs, and the source or sources of those rights. The federal court has given the parties until May 31, 2008 to continue to explore a framework and process for settlement, and to make a report to the Court. Overall, progress has been slow but steady, and it is anticipated that continued negotiations will extend throughout 2008. The Tribe and the US are also discussing funding to quantify the Tribe’s water rights.
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