Energy companies have been seen taking water from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota but it's not clear whether the tribe has authority over the activity.

The companies are using the water for hydraulic fracturing, a controversial energy-processing technique that's commonly known as fracking. Trucks have been seen along Bureau of Indian Affairs roads on the reservation.

“As long as there is a frack job occurring somewhere within the boundaries here, there has been, and will continue to be, a need for water,” Edmund Baker, the tribe's environmental director, said at the Tribal Environmental Risk Mitigation Conference last week, The Bismarck Tribune reported.

The state requires companies to secure permits for taking water. But the same process doesn't apply in Indian Country for now although the tribe is developing its own water code that could address the matter.

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Trucks hauling water from tribal lands going unregulated (The Bismarck Tribune 4/20)