A sign to the Omaha Reservation. Photo from Bicycling the Heartland

The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency to improve utility services on the reservation.

The Omaha Tribal Utility Commission agreed to make about $1 million in improvements to drinking and wastewater systems and to its trash collection program. The tribe also will pay a $2,000 fine.

“This settlement is designed to build the tribe’s financial, managerial and technical capacity, which will allow it to operate and maintain compliant and sustainable utilities,” EPA Region 7 Administrator Karl Brooks said in a press release. “I commend the tribe for working with EPA to protect the health of its residents and to ensure compliance with environmental laws.”

The tribe has experienced repeated problems with its water systems and its solid waste collection. The settlement resolves alleged violations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Clean Water Act.

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Omaha Tribe, EPA reach water, trash collection deal (The Omaha World-Herald 8/29)