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WASHINGTON — New Mexico's U.S. senators, impatient with the Bush administration's inaction on a water settlement involving the Navajo Nation, said Wednesday they are ready to push forward without the government's backing.

Administration officials say they oppose the settlement reached between the Navajo Nation and the state of New Mexico over San Juan Basin water, which would cost the federal government $1 billion over 15 to 20 years. They say they're working on their proposal.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, and Pete Domenici, a Republican, said the government has had five years to study the proposed settlement.

With as many as half of the people living on the Navajo Reservation without running water and the nearby city of Gallup, N.M., worried it will run out of water, the senators said they are ready to bypass the administration and just let Congress vote on settlement legislation.

"There needs to be closure on this," Bingaman said at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing about the settlement. "The federal government has been AWOL. I see no reason we can't proceed."

A bill sponsored by Bingaman and Domenici would put in place the state settlement. It would authorize a pipeline to serve the Gallup and Navajo communities and create a water-rights settlement fund in the federal treasury to pay for it and future Indian water agreements.

The costs could be split among the federal, state, local and tribal governments.

Besides the expense, the Bush administration has legal questions about the settlement and fears it would tie the hands of future presidents.

Others have questions too.

The state of Arizona, home to part of the Navajo Reservation, fears the agreement would set a precedent that would jeopardize its share of water in the lower Colorado River Basin, among other concerns.

A group of San Juan water users in New Mexico argues that the size of the deal is unfair because it divvies up a third of the state's water to satisfy claims of 2.5 percent of the population.

In written testimony, the San Juan Agricultural Users Association said it also worries the tribes would be able to sell New Mexico's water to Las Vegas, although the settlement backers say that could be prevented.

At the hearing, Indian Affairs and Bureau of Reclamation officials said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne wants to settle the water claims. They asked for more time.

"We are committed to work with Congress on a solution," Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Robert Johnson said.

But the senators demanded to know why the government hasn't offered its own plan while the state was working on the settlement.

"For five years I've been pleading with the federal government," Domenici said. "I find this very frustrating."

Bingaman added that the administration has been willing to sign off on more-expensive water claims in the West and on water management and infrastructure for Iraq.