WASHINGTON D.C. – In the waning weeks of President Joe Biden’s presidency, his administration announced a $700 million allocation for clean drinking water and sanitation infrastructure throughout Indian Country. According to Indian Health Services, the allocation comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The bill was originally passed in November 2021 and stands as one of the administration’s most sizable legislative accomplishments to date. This allocation marks the earliest in the fiscal year BIL funding has been announced. It will support “accurate planning and purchasing for critical projects”.
According to the Indian Health Service, an estimated 110,000 American Indian and Alaskan Native households will gain access to sanitation facility services through the allocation. The projects it prioritizes aligns with recommendations from tribal leaders. In particular, areas within the Lower Colorado Basin System will see improvements to water distribution structures, advanced metering infrastructure and farm efficiency improvements. This affects water use by the Colorado River Basin Tribes Partnership, also known as the Ten Tribes Partnership, who reserve water rights in the basin and use 20 percent of its mainstream flow.
United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland remarked that those particularly in Western communities will see many benefits from the allocation.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has allowed us to begin work on long overdue water storage projects, providing clean, reliable drinking water to families, farmers and Tribes throughout the West,” said Haaland. “The investments we’re announcing today will continue to fund these important efforts, expediting essential water storage projects and providing increased water security to Western communities.”
Indian Health Services Director Roselyn Tso said the allocation comes from a long list of other projects the Biden administration has overseen over the past four years. These projects are the result of partnerships between various federal departments and partners.
“The projects funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are making substantial improvements in clean water and sanitation systems in our tribal communities,” Tso said. “In the first three years of BIL funding, the IHS supported over 765 construction projects across all IHS areas. With the FY 2025 funding, the IHS will allocate $700 million to support an additional 67 construction projects. As we enter the fourth year of BIL funding, the IHS is delighted to continue collaborating with our tribal partners and federal partners, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation to ensure safe drinking water, reliable sewage systems, and solid waste disposal facilities are made available to tribal communities throughout Indian Country.”
To learn more about the IHS Sanitation Facilities Construction Program, visit https://www.ihs.gov/dsfc/.