Indian Health Service observes World Water Week

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Indian Health Service: Sanitation Facilities Construction Program Celebrates 65 Years of Building Water Infrastructure

Monday, August 26, 2024

Indianz.Com

The Indian Health Service (IHS) is observing World Water Week with visits to infrastructure sites in tribal communities across the nation.

Visits are set for tribal communities in Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon and Wisconsin. According to the IHS, the projects at these sites were funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Having access to clean water is something that many take for granted, yet there are far too many communities across Indian Country that to this day do not have access to safe and reliable water and sanitation infrastructure,” IHS Director Roselyn Tso, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, said in a news release last Thursday.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was enacted in November 2021, >includes $3.5 billion for the Sanitation Facilities Construction Program at IHS. The agency has been allocating $700 million a year to improve water and sanitation systems in tribal communities.

#WorldWaterWeek is right around the corner! Did you know that the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law appropriates $700 million in each fiscal year from 2022-2026 for the IHS Sanitation Facilities Contraction Program? #WWWeek #IndianCountry #NativeHealth pic.twitter.com/argQUHiktP
— IndianHealthService (@IHSgov) August 20, 2024

The projects being highlighted during World Water Week follow:

Lac Courte Oreilles Water Tower Improvements in New Post, Wisconsin, serving the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

San Carlos Wastewater Treatment Facility Expansion in San Carlos, Arizona, serving the San Carlos Apache Tribe

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Mission Wastewater System Upgrades in Mission, Oregon, serving the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

Cherokee New Water Treatment Plant & Raw Water Intake in Stilwell, Oklahoma, serving the Cherokee Nation

Creek/Wagoner County RWD #5 Water Treatment Plant Expansion in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, serving the Muscogee Nation

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska Water Treatment Plant in Macy, Nebraska, serving the Omaha Tribe

In 2023, the IHS launched a website to provide information about projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The site can be found at dsfc-ihs-gis.hub.arcgis.com.

World Water Week is observed internationally from August 25-29, 2024.

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