[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 9, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S2506]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota:
  S. 684. 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 am introducing 
the Mni Wiconi Project Act Amendments of 2013 to facilitate completion 
of a rural water supply system that was first authorized in the 100th 
Congress. As a freshman Member of the House of Representatives, I 
introduced legislation authorizing construction of the Mni Wiconi 
Project to bring quality, treated Missouri River water to several 
Indian reservations and a large, rural area of my State. Prior to Mni 
Wiconi, these areas faced insufficient and, too often, unsafe drinking 
water.
  In the authorizing statute, 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. Treated 
drinking water from the Missouri River now reaches most areas on these 
three reservations, as well as the 7 county area of the West River/
Lyman-Jones Rural Water System.
  Nearly 25 years after it was first authorized, this critically 
important project is very close to completion. Because appropriations 
failed to keep pace with projected timelines, however, additional 
administrative costs have cut into construction funding. As a result, 
the project needs an increase in the cost ceiling and extension of its 
authorization in order to be completed. Without these adjustments, 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 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 need for adequate and safe 
drinking water supplies on the Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Lower Brule 
Indian Reservations remains as important as ever. I look forward to 
working with my colleagues to advance this legislation.
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