Posted on Oct 23, 2023
After no clean drinking water for 4 years, this Native American tribe wants more than sympathy
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Native American communities often lack the resources to upgrade drinking and wastewater infrastructure. The Santee Sioux Nation in Nebraska is an extreme example — living without safe drinking water for four years.
Over the hills of northern Nebraska and along the banks of the Missouri River lies the village of Santee on the Santee Sioux Nation Reservation.
Home to fewer than 1,000 residents, it’s isolated from Nebraska’s major population centers and almost an hour from the nearest Walmart in Yankton, South Dakota.
For the past four years, the reservation has not had access to safe drinking water.
And for four years, the tribe has been unable to afford the necessary infrastructure to fix the problem.
Kameron Runnels, tribal vice chairman for the Santee Sioux, has been working on securing funding from the state and federal government since the Environmental Protection Agency's initial no-drink order in 2019.
Over the hills of northern Nebraska and along the banks of the Missouri River lies the village of Santee on the Santee Sioux Nation Reservation.
Home to fewer than 1,000 residents, it’s isolated from Nebraska’s major population centers and almost an hour from the nearest Walmart in Yankton, South Dakota.
For the past four years, the reservation has not had access to safe drinking water.
And for four years, the tribe has been unable to afford the necessary infrastructure to fix the problem.
Kameron Runnels, tribal vice chairman for the Santee Sioux, has been working on securing funding from the state and federal government since the Environmental Protection Agency's initial no-drink order in 2019.
After no clean drinking water for 4 years, this Native American tribe wants more than sympathy
Posted from kcur.org
Native Americans
Water
Posted 6 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."‘Who’s going to pay for that?’
Santee tribal leadership has looked into several long-term solutions to the water crisis, but each comes with a hefty price tag.
One option involves building a $10 million water treatment facility on the reservation, which would come with a maintenance cost upwards of $200,000 each year.
The treatment facility has a cheaper upfront cost than other options, but it’s a shaky solution, said Santee Environmental Director Alisha Bartling.
“I think the biggest thing for us is not only getting that initial setup, but then it's the operation and the maintenance of the long term,” Bartling said. “How are we going to be able to sustain that? Who's going to pay for that? What are we going to have to change here to be able to make our payments?”
The tribe’s preferred option is to pump pre-treated water from South Dakota across the Missouri River into Santee.
The entire project is estimated to cost $40 million. But Clinton Powell, a civil engineer for the tribe, said it would be the most reliable option in the future.
“We're very confident that that water supply is going to be a high quality water supply source, that you'll know exactly what you're getting for quality and quantity 50 years from now,” he said.
Powell said the pipeline across the Missouri could be used to supply clean water to other small towns in the region, many of which are also in need of costly updates to their water treatment facilities.
But for a reservation of fewer than 1,000 people, the $40 million investment is impossible without outside funding from the state and federal government.
A bill that would provide up to $6 million to Santee was introduced in the Nebraska legislature in 2022, but it was indefinitely postponed. That same session, $20 million was allocated to build a new water treatment facility to accommodate the growth of recreational housing around a Nebraska lake.
Santee tribal leadership has met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican, to speak about funding the project.
A spokesperson for Rep. Smith said the House Appropriations Committee allocated $1.75 million for the Santee Sioux water infrastructure request in the 2025 fiscal year. However, that bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the president before funds can be distributed.
Santee Vice Chairman Kameron Runnels said he appreciates the recognition, but doesn’t expect the full $40 million to arrive any time soon.
“It'd be nice, but to be realistic, we kind of know we're going to have to probably apply for grants and go after some of this stuff on our own,” Runnels said. “We're pretty much on our own anyway, and we have been in this regard.”
For now, the tribe is relying on a $100,000 grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to buy bottled water for tribal members.
That money is expected to run out this winter."
..."‘Who’s going to pay for that?’
Santee tribal leadership has looked into several long-term solutions to the water crisis, but each comes with a hefty price tag.
One option involves building a $10 million water treatment facility on the reservation, which would come with a maintenance cost upwards of $200,000 each year.
The treatment facility has a cheaper upfront cost than other options, but it’s a shaky solution, said Santee Environmental Director Alisha Bartling.
“I think the biggest thing for us is not only getting that initial setup, but then it's the operation and the maintenance of the long term,” Bartling said. “How are we going to be able to sustain that? Who's going to pay for that? What are we going to have to change here to be able to make our payments?”
The tribe’s preferred option is to pump pre-treated water from South Dakota across the Missouri River into Santee.
The entire project is estimated to cost $40 million. But Clinton Powell, a civil engineer for the tribe, said it would be the most reliable option in the future.
“We're very confident that that water supply is going to be a high quality water supply source, that you'll know exactly what you're getting for quality and quantity 50 years from now,” he said.
Powell said the pipeline across the Missouri could be used to supply clean water to other small towns in the region, many of which are also in need of costly updates to their water treatment facilities.
But for a reservation of fewer than 1,000 people, the $40 million investment is impossible without outside funding from the state and federal government.
A bill that would provide up to $6 million to Santee was introduced in the Nebraska legislature in 2022, but it was indefinitely postponed. That same session, $20 million was allocated to build a new water treatment facility to accommodate the growth of recreational housing around a Nebraska lake.
Santee tribal leadership has met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican, to speak about funding the project.
A spokesperson for Rep. Smith said the House Appropriations Committee allocated $1.75 million for the Santee Sioux water infrastructure request in the 2025 fiscal year. However, that bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the president before funds can be distributed.
Santee Vice Chairman Kameron Runnels said he appreciates the recognition, but doesn’t expect the full $40 million to arrive any time soon.
“It'd be nice, but to be realistic, we kind of know we're going to have to probably apply for grants and go after some of this stuff on our own,” Runnels said. “We're pretty much on our own anyway, and we have been in this regard.”
For now, the tribe is relying on a $100,000 grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to buy bottled water for tribal members.
That money is expected to run out this winter."
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How is it possible for any community in this country to have issues with their water with so much government regulation and oversight?
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