After 44 years, the effort to settle water-rights claims of four pueblos and their neighbors in the Pojoaque River Basin is almost over.

All that's needed now at the federal level is President Barack Obama's signature.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a seminal piece of legislation that resolves American Indian trust account issues, black farmers' claims and Indian water-rights claims, including the Pojoaque Valley litigation known as the Aamodt case. The U.S. Senate approved the bill earlier in November. The House approved the measure Tuesday in a 256-152 vote.

Also in the bill is settlement of Taos Pueblo water-rights claims in what's known as the Abeyta case and funding for a Navajo-Gallup pipeline that is part of a Navajo water-rights settlement in New Mexico.

U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, both longtime supporters of all three settlements, were elated and confident the president will sign the bill.

The bill provides $81.1 million for the Aamodt agreement, which includes construction of a new Rio Grande diversion and a pipeline to deliver imported water to the Pojoaque Basin. The bill also provides $66 million for the Taos Pueblo settlement. It authorizes a total of $92 million in future years for Aamodt and $58 million for Abeyta.

Aamodt settles water-rights claims of Pojoaque, Tesuque, San Ildefonso and Nambé pueblos, which have the oldest water rights in the basin north of Santa Fe. Pueblo officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday. The case also involved the state, the city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County.

The Aamodt settlement is supposed to protect the irrigation rights of farmers in the basin and the use of domestic wells by nonpueblo residents.

DL Sanders, lead counsel for the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, was pleased with the outcome. He said supporters of the Aamodt settlement worried that if it didn't pass this year, it would be many more before it had a chance again.

Some Pojoaque Basin residents were delighted with the news.

"I'm pleased with the outcome," said David Ortiz, chairman of the 700-member Rio Pojoaque Acequia Association. "I was very pleasantly surprised when it passed the Senate with money attached. That was better than we hoped for. To hear the House concurred is good news."

Ortiz also said, "We believe this will ensure the availability of both surface and groundwater for future generations. First, because it preserves present uses, and second, because it will provide a water supply so we can continue to live peacefully with our neighbors."

That water supply is supposed to come through an additional 4,000 acre-feet of water and the new regional water system.

Many people who support the settlement still oppose the regional water system, calling it an unnecessary and expensive venture for nonpueblo people in the valley.

"The whole thing was improperly presented," said Dick Rochester of Nambé. "What they've passed is basically a sham. They don't have the funding for the system, and I think it will take five years at least to even start it."

"A lot of people in this valley think the way this was done creates an unjust water grab," said Orlando Romero. "It's not that we're against the settlement, but they are shoving this water pipeline down our throat."

Disclosure: New Mexican publisher Robin Martin is a party to the Aamodt litigation.

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.