(KNZA)--A group of landowners meet with the Brown County Commission Monday to voice their concerns about the Kickapoo Tribe’s efforts to revive a water reservoir project.

Linda Lierz, representing the group of eleven landowners, urged the Commission not to sign a letter of support for the proposed project.

Lierz said while the group agrees the tribe needs water, they believe the tribe could drill wells on their reservation to meet their needs instead of taking valuable farmland to construct a reservoir. “In the Farm Bureau book that I gave you, it shows that if they drill wells they could have water, ground water that would be more healthy,” she told the Commision. “If it's about water, they would have drilled wells a long time ago.” 

Lierz said none of the landowners have sold property to the tribe for the proposed project and have not been contacted by the tribe in the last five years.

Kickapoo tribal officials met with the Commission last week to ask for a letter of support for the ratification of a water rights agreement that will help the tribe develop a reservoir on their reservation.

Last September, the tribe and state entered into the agreement which quantifies the tribe’s water rights in the Delaware River Watershed. However, the agreement still must be ratified by Congress.

Commissioner Keith Olsen said he contacted the offices of Senator Jerry Moran and Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins last week and was told they have not agreed yet to sponsor a bill to ratify the agreement.

Commission Chairman Steve Roberts told the group the Commission doesn't plan to sign a letter of support, saying the Commission has not received very good answers from the tribe about the proposed project.