Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025
SB 563, the Ohkay Owingeh Rio Chama Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025, approves and ratifies a negotiated settlement of water rights claims involving Ohkay Owingeh, the State of New Mexico, the United States, and other parties in the Rio Chama Stream System. The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to execute the settlement agreement, confirms Pueblo water rights in trust for Ohkay Owingeh, and establishes the legal framework for implementing the agreement, including environmental compliance, water-rights administration, and restoration work on Pueblo land and the Rio Chama bosque.
The measure also creates the Ohkay Owingeh Water Rights Settlement Trust Fund and provides a mandatory federal appropriation of $745 million, adjusted for construction-cost changes, along with specified state cost-share contributions for acequia improvements, City of Española water projects, and mitigation for non-Pueblo groundwater users. The settlement is designed to become enforceable only after a series of conditions are met, including court approval, funding deposits, state-law changes allowing long-term leasing of Pueblo water rights, and execution of waivers and releases. In exchange, Ohkay Owingeh and the United States would relinquish a broad set of past and existing claims related to water rights, damages, and related injuries in the Rio Chama basin, while preserving certain future, environmental, and non-water-related claims.
If enacted and fully implemented, the bill would alter federal law by ratifying a specific tribal water-rights settlement, confirming trust status for Ohkay Owingeh’s water rights, and creating a dedicated federal trust fund to finance water infrastructure, bosque restoration, water acquisition, and related projects. It would also require New Mexico to amend state law to permit leases of Pueblo water rights for up to 99 years and would condition the settlement’s enforceability on state funding commitments and federal court approval. The bill affects the United States, Ohkay Owingeh, the State of New Mexico, acequias, the City of Española, and non-Pueblo water users in the Rio Chama Stream System.
The bill appears to have been received positively in the legislative process, as reflected by its unanimous reporting out of committee without amendment and its placement on the Senate Legislative Calendar. The text itself reflects a negotiated settlement structure, which typically indicates broad stakeholder compromise among the Pueblo, federal officials, and state and local water interests. No recorded votes or committee transcripts were provided, so there is no evidence in the available record of formal opposition or divided sentiment.
The main points of contention embedded in the bill concern the scope of the waivers and releases, the size and structure of the federal funding commitment, and the state-law changes needed to implement the settlement. Potentially affected parties include non-Pueblo domestic and livestock groundwater users, signatory acequias, and the City of Española, all of whom are tied to funding, water-use, or mitigation provisions. The bill also raises implementation issues around environmental compliance, Corps of Engineers coordination, and the long-term leasing authority for Pueblo water rights, which must be accepted in state law before the settlement becomes enforceable.