Up to $700 million has now been allocated for a wide variety of tribal land water wells and on-site wastewater disposal systems work.
The funding, to be spent between now and 2026, is going to the Indian Health Service Sanitation Facilities Construction Program and is part of a larger $3.5 billion to be spent on such projects secured through last year’s Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act.
By design, the funding will pay for the construction and upgrading of wells and disposal systems serving up to 71,000 Native American homes.
Some $581 million will go for Tier 1 projects where the design and engineering work has been completed.
In a statement, Xavier Becerra, the secretary of Health and Human Services, noted that the investment “is in response to the longstanding recommendations of tribal leaders shared in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian Health Service.”
The funding will include nearly $12 million for wastewater improvements at the Acoma Pueblo’s McCarty’s Village in New Mexico; $48 million for a cast iron water pipe replacement project with the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes in Colorado; and $23 million for a booster extension in Arizona’s Coalmine Canyon, on the border of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe, among dozens of other projects.
Arizona Senate Mark Kelly, also in a statement, noted that he had seen “firsthand the incredible impact of improved water and wastewater systems on tribal communities, and now, thanks to our bipartisan infrastructure law, even more families and businesses can benefit from investments in these shovel-ready projects.”
By Garry Boulard
