[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 31, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S5737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota:
  S. 3464. A bill to amend the Mni Wiconi Project Act of 1988 to 
facilitate completion of the Mni Wiconi Rural Water Supply System, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. President, today I introduced 
legislation to facilitate completion of the Mni Wiconi Rural Water 
System. The Mni Wiconi Project provides quality drinking water to three 
Indian Reservations and a non-tribal rural water system in western 
South Dakota that have historically faced insufficient and, in too many 
cases, unsafe drinking water.
  I have been involved with this project for the entirety of my 25 year 
congressional career, including sponsoring authorizing legislation that 
was ultimately enacted in 1988. In authorizing the project, Congress 
found that the United States has a trust responsibility to ensure that 
adequate and safe water supplies are available to meet the economic, 
environmental, water supply, and public health needs of the Pine Ridge 
Indian Reservation, Rosebud Indian Reservation, and Lower Brule Indian 
Reservation. With treated drinking water from the Missouri River now 
reaching most of the three reservations, as well as the 7 county area 
of the West River/Lyman-Jones Rural Water System, we are very close to 
completing this critically important project.
  Unfortunately, appropriations have failed to keep pace with projected 
timelines, and additional costs have cut into construction funding. 
Accordingly, the project requires an increase in the cost ceiling and 
extension of its authorization in order to be completed and serve the 
design population. Without an adjustment to the cost ceiling, some 
portions of the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System and Rosebud 
Sioux Rural Water System will remain incomplete. The legislation I have 
introduced today addresses this shortfall and other important aspects 
of the project. The legislation also directs other Federal agencies 
that support rural water development to assist the Bureau of 
Reclamation in improving and repairing existing community water systems 
that are important components of the project.
  Our Federal responsibility to address the tremendous need for 
adequate and safe drinking water supplies on the Pine Ridge, Rosebud 
and Lower Brule Indian Reservations remains as important today as it 
was 25 years ago. I look forward to working with my colleagues to 
advance this modest but important legislation.

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