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Attorney: Don Wharton
Case Update
The Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) has been working on the delivery of a safe, reliable and adequate source of municipal, industrial and rural water supply through the federally authorized and funded Mni Wiconi Project (Public Law 100-516, as amended). A critical element of the delivery of safe drinking water to the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is to ensure the security of the pipeline that distributes the water to the users. NARF has assisted the OST Department of Water Maintenance and Conservation in fulfilling its responsibility to secure the pipeline through the development and adoption of the OST Pipeline Security Ordinance, Ordinance 06-01, as amended. The Department of Water Maintenance and Conservation is now faced with enforcement of the Ordinance in a number of important situations, including individuals who do not accept that they cannot waste the water provided through the Mni Wiconi Distribution system on the Reservation. NARF is assisting the Department with the development of the necessary forms and protocols to accomplish enforcement of this critically important law of the Tribe and with the training of Department personnel on enforcement of the Ordinance. NARF conducted a training for Department personnel on the enforcement of the Pipeline Security Ordinance in June 2009, and provided revised and updated forms and standards for administration of the Ordinance.
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