Public Lands Aquifer Recharge Partnership and Accountability Measure

Congress controls the rules for federal land, and the states and Tribes control their water. Article IV, Section 3 grants Congress authority to regulate federal property, so it governs the terms of existing rights-of-way across Bureau of Land Management land. The Tenth Amendment reserves water allocation to the states and to Tribal authority. This measure would stay inside that division: it would streamline only the federal land-use permission for existing facilities used for public-purpose aquifer recharge, while leaving water rights, water law, and separate environmental statutes where they now rest.

The SI Senate proposes a public-purpose recharge partnership measure. It would provide that a holder of an existing right-of-way, easement, permit, or other authorization to convey water across Bureau of Land Management land may use that existing facility to transport water for aquifer recharge on behalf of a state, an Indian Tribe, or a public entity, without a new Department of the Interior authorization, so long as the physical footprint and authorized operation are not enlarged. It would provide that such conforming use is not treated as an expansion, modification, major federal action, or substantial deviation for purposes of this streamlining. Consistent with the official summary, the rent exemption would apply only to nonprofit public-purpose recharge and would not apply to for-profit uses or for-profit entities.

How it would work: an eligible holder would file an advance written recharge-use notice identifying the existing authorization, the state, Tribe, or public entity served, the intended season and volume range, and a certification that the use stays within the existing facility and operating terms. The Bureau would post each notice publicly, maintain a central register, and report annually to Congress on notices received, volumes conveyed, recharge locations, and alleged violations. Total federal spending to administer the register and reports would be capped at $4 million over the life of the measure, with no new federal fees on states, Tribes, or public entities. The authority would sunset after 7 years unless Congress reauthorizes it. Oversight would rest with the Government Accountability Office, which would audit compliance, fiscal effects, and whether uses remained within existing authorizations and the public-purpose rent rule before sunset.

Enforcement would be administrative and proportionate. A holder that conveys recharge water without filing the required notice, exceeds the existing authorization, or claims the public-purpose rent exemption while serving commercial gain would face suspension of the streamlined treatment, assessment of back rents owed, and civil penalties under existing public-lands authority. Knowing misrepresentation would bar future use of the streamlined process. The strongest objection is that deeming this use not an expansion or major federal action could evade review and harm neighboring lands or water rights. The answer is that the measure applies only within the existing authorized footprint, preserves state and Tribal water law and preserves applicable environmental statutes, requires public notice and annual volume reporting, and backs those limits with audit, suspension, back-rent, and penalty tools.