20 Years of Protecting Public Health on Tribal
Lands: EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants
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EPA's Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants - Tribal Set-Aside (DWIG-TSA) program helps
tribal communities and Alaska Native Villages address the unique challenges they face in
providing reliable access to safe drinking water. Throughout the past 20 years, the DWIG-
TSA program has contributed $325,000,000 towards infrastructure upgrades and capital
improvement projects, as well as operator training and certification programs. These projects provided initial access to
safe drinking water to thousands of tribal members across the country and helped many more by ensuring that water
systems meet the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
I
DWIG-TSA Funding
Since its inception, the DWIG-TSA has contributed $325,000,000 towards providing safe
drinking water to tribai communities across the country.
$350,000,000
$300,000,000
$250,000,000
$200,000,000
$150,000,000
$100,000,000
$50,000,000
$0
In the program's
first fiscal year,
its allocation
totaled
$19,125,000.
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A NEED STILL EXISTS
The 2015 DWINSA
identified $3.8B tribal
drinking water
infrastructure needs.
As of fiscal year 2017,
4.22% of the total
homes in tribal
communities (a total of
16,900 homes) still lack
access to safe drinking
water
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Background
The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) amendments authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
establish the DWIG-TSA. The DWIG-TSA program is implemented by EPA Regional Offices in partnership with the Indian
Health Service (HIS) and is based on allocations from:
•	the EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment: a survey and assessment of
drinking water infrastructure need conducted every four years that includes tribal lands, and
» the Indian Health Service (IHS) Sanitary Deficiency Survey list: an annual inventory of tribal and Alaska
Native Villages water infrastructure needs.
Many benefiting communities are in remote regions that cannot easily connect to
larger water systems and, due to their small population sizes, often lack economies
of scale and capacities found in larger utilities. Additionally, many of these
communities experience arid or permafrost conditions, which make water sources
difficult to find. The DWIG-TSA is often used to:
•	provide additional sources of drinking water
•	construct or update treatment and storage facilities,
•	install or upgrade transmission and distribution lines,
•	provide homes with initial access to drinking water and
•	replace aged water system infrastructure.
DWIG-TSA Appropriations
~
In 1996, SDWAauthoriz.es

1.5% of the total annual

DWSRF appropriations to

the DWIG-TSA
~
In 2010, this percentage

was increased to 2.0%
~
In 2016, Congress

authorized EPA to increase

the Tribal Set-Aside to the

greater of 2% of the total

DWSRF appropriation or

$20,000,000
EPA 810-F-18-004, June 2018

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Case Studies
Cheyenne River Indian Reservation Sioux Tribe-South Dakota
Above: 750 kW generator at Fox
Ridge water treatment plant.
Below: Diesel engine with
starting motor for 750 kW
generator
The reservation's climate is typical of the Northern Great
Plains, with weather extremes during the winter and
summer months. A severe winter ice storm in January
2010 caused a power outage at the water treatment
plant, which resulted in a loss of water pressure to the
distribution system and prevented production of potable
water. At the time, no backup power was available for
the water system. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe water
system was awarded $692,000 from the DWIG-TSA
program for a project to provide backup power to the
water treatment plant and its intake. The system
purchased and installed two emergency generators with
winterized enclosures. This project provides resiliency
during natural disasters and emergency events and ensures a reliable water supply.
Native City of Atka, Alaska
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Located in the Cheyenne River Indian
Reservation in South Dakota, the Fox
Ridge Water Treatment Plant serves
about 1,806 homes and
approximately 8,000 people.
The city's public water system was in violation of EPA's Surface Water
Treatment Rules, and the utility regularly issued boil water notices. To address
this deficiency, the City was awarded DWIG-TSA funds to improve the
community's infrastructure. The City's drinking water problems centered on
aging wood stave water storage tanks. These tanks were built in the 1980s, were
no longer reliable, and had become a liability to the system. Through an
interagency
agreement,
$734,281 was
used to install
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Ada*
nof
Construction of the 163,000-gallon water
storage/disinfectant contact tank in Atka, AK
The City of Atka lies in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The population
is approximately 65 people and the water system serves 31 buildings.
a centralized 163,000-gallon water
storage tank that enhanced the disinfection process.
This new tank is closer to the water source and,
together with a new water treatment plant (put into
service in 2012), provides a safer and more reliable
source of drinking water for the system's customers.
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe - Sutcliffe, Nevada
Green sand filtration water
treatment plant for the removal of
iron, manganese, and arsenic.
The Paiute Tribe water system consisted of two wells, both
of which exceeded one or more of EPA's drinking water
standards for iron, manganese and arsenic. The Paiute Tribe
received a grant for $955,000 to
rehabilitate and restore Well #1 service and
constructed a greensand filter water
treatment plant for the removal of arsenic,
iron, and manganese. This addressed
compliance with the primary and secondary
drinking water MCLs, and ensured safe and
reliable drinking water for the community.
Located 35 miles
northeast of
Reno, the
Sutcliffe water
system serves 66
homes and
approximately
250 people.
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EPA 810-F-18-004, June 2018

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