Water Rights Protection Act

Water Rights Protection Act - Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) from: (1) conditioning the issuance, renewal, amendment, or extension of any permit, approval, license, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or other land use or occupancy agreement on the transfer of any water right (including joint or sole ownership) directly to the United States, or any impairment in title, in whole or in part, granted or recognized under state law, by federal or state adjudication, decree, or other judgment, or pursuant to any interstate water compact; and (2) requiring any water user (including any federally recognized Indian tribe) to apply for a water right in the name of the United States under state law as a condition of such a land use or occupancy agreement.

States that nothing in this Act shall: (1) limit or expand any existing authority of the Secretaries to condition any permit, approval, license, lease, allotment, easement, right-of-way, or other land use or occupancy agreement on federal lands subject to their respective jurisdictions; (2) interfere with existing or future Bureau of Reclamation contracts; (3) affect the implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973; (4) limit or expand any existing federal reserved water rights on lands administered by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture; (5) limit or expand certain authorities under the Federal Power Act; and (6) limit or expand any existing reserved water right or treaty right of any federally recognized Indian tribe.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov