en.Wedoany.com Reported - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced over $227 million in funding to American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages to improve drinking water and wastewater treatment services. These resources aim to provide essential assistance to tribal communities to better protect residents and environmental health.
EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer stated that close collaboration with tribal partners is a cornerstone of the agency's Indian policy, its commitment to cooperative federalism, and its work to protect human health. She emphasized that these resources are critical to helping tribes manage and upgrade water infrastructure, ensuring clean, safe drinking water and wastewater treatment services.
This funding will help tribal communities access safe and reliable drinking water and assist in protecting the environment from wastewater discharges. Federally recognized tribes can use these funds to make necessary investments in water infrastructure to advance public health protection. This helps support compliance with the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act requirements and address important public health challenges, such as removing lead pipes or addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water.
Funding allocations include: $71 million for the Clean Water Indian Set-Aside (CWISA), of which $4.5 million is for CWISA Emerging Contaminants (CWISA-EC); $134 million for Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants; $19 million for the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Tribal Grant Program; and $3 million for the Small, Rural, and Tribal (SmaRT) Drinking Water Assistance Grant Program, formerly known as the Small, Underserved, and Disadvantaged Communities (SUDC) Tribal Grant Program.
The Clean Water Indian Set-Aside (CWISA) program, established under the 1987 Clean Water Act amendments, provides wastewater treatment infrastructure funding to American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages. Funds can be used for planning, design, and construction of wastewater treatment plant facilities serving federally recognized tribes. The Drinking Water Infrastructure Grant Tribal Set-Aside, established under the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments, authorizes EPA to reserve a portion of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) appropriations to fund drinking water infrastructure improvements in tribal communities. Since its inception, the DWIG-TSA program has funded infrastructure upgrades, capital improvement projects, and operator training and certification programs.
