The Biden administration said Thursday $580 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be used to fulfill obligations associated with the settlement of Native American water rights claims.

The money includes $6.7 million to pay for water leases and storage connected to the Nez Perce Water Rights Settlement of 2004.

“Water is a sacred resource, and water rights are crucial to ensuring the health, safety and empowerment of Tribal communities. Through this funding, the Interior Department will continue to uphold our trust responsibilities and ensure that Tribal communities receive the water resources they have long been promised,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a news release. “I am grateful that Tribes, some of whom have been waiting for this funding for decades, are finally getting the resources they are owed with the help of this crucial funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

Nearly two decades ago, the Nez Perce Tribe, federal government and Idaho reached a historic agreement settling water rights claimed by the tribe during the Snake River Basin Adjudication — a state court process seeking to unravel competing water rights across much of the state.

The tribe claimed most of the water in the basin based on fishing rights in its 1855 treaty with the U.S. government. If granted by the court, those rights — which predate statehood — would have been senior to all other users. But the tribe agreed to give up most of the claims in exchange for more than $90 million; 11,000 acres of land; some water rights; salmon conservation measures, including guaranteed minimum flows in several salmon bearing tributaries to the Salmon and Clearwater rivers; and the annual release of 487,000 acre feet of water from the upper Snake River.

The water, known as flow augmentation, is used to speed juvenile salmon toward the Pacific Ocean, and is acquired from willing sellers. The $6.7 million will cover annual payments and pass from the Bureau of Reclamation to water users who agree to sell water. The program is slated to run for 30 years.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.