30.01.030 Findings

The Tribe finds and declares:

The quality of all waters of the Tribe will be protected for the use and enjoyment by the people of the Tribe.

The management and protection of water is a central attribute of tribal sovereignty and is vital to the well-being of its inhabitants.

Water has cultural, spiritual, social, environmental, health, and economic values that require protection and we must guide the appropriate use and management of all resources affecting the watershed and drainage basins of the Reservation and its allotted lands.

All water is interconnected by the hydrologic cycle of tribal lands and each watershed is consequently a unitary resource, whether occurring as surface water or ground water, spring water or mineral water, soil moisture, precipitation, atmospheric, percolating or non-percolating, recharge, drainage waters, overflow, and waters associated with mineral and/or petroleum resources.

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa are interconnected to the environment and to the integrity of the ecosystem, including but not limited to the fish, wildlife, plants, trees and the environment.

In 1987, the EPA amended the 1972 Clean Water Act to treat tribal governments the same way it treats states. Among other things, this meant that tribal governments were given the power to create their own water quality standards with federal approval. Like the regulations imposed on states, these tribal standards must be equal to or more stringent than federal standards. It is the Tribes intent to exercise its sovereign authority.

It is the right of the Tribe to maintain the quality and composition of the water to sustain life systems and their protection with regards to contamination, for renewal of the life of Mother Earth and all its components.