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- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Health Care
The San Carlos Apache Tribe will soon begin construction on a $34.7 million wastewater treatment facility after securing the remaining $4 million in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to an announcement by the tribe.
This funding, allocated on July 17, allows the tribe to move forward with the project, which will take three years to complete.
“This was long overdue,” San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler said in a statement. “Thanks to the EPA and the Indian Health Service, the Tribe will soon have a modern and dependable wastewater treatment system. A special thanks goes to the dedicated members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe Utility Authority for their hard work of keeping an outdated system running.”
The new facility will replace the Six Mile Lagoons, an undersized and often overwhelmed wastewater plant built in the early 1980s by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The original plant was designed to handle 610,000 gallons of wastewater per day, but the Tribe's population has grown by 25% since then, with additional development such as the San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corp. hospital increasing the daily inflow to 1.1 million gallons.
The EPA’s $4 million contribution completes the funding needed for the project, which had already secured $25 million from the Indian Health Service and $5.7 million previously committed by the EPA. The Indian Health Service expects the new plant to be completed by 2027, providing much-needed infrastructure to support the growing community.
The new facility will enhance the Tribe's capacity to manage wastewater efficiently, supporting both current needs and future growth, while ensuring environmental protection and sustainability for the San Carlos Apache Reservation, the tribe said in a statement.
Residents of the San Carlos Apache Reservation currently have inadequate wastewater treatment services, according to a report by the EPA and the USDA on clean water options for the tribe. The report notes: “For many years, tribal leaders have worked to change this situation. With the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and new Water Technical Assistance services, there is momentum to bring wastewater treatment solutions to homes on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.”
