Hearing on improving tribal clean drinking water & wastewater infrastructure

'Tribes are still more likely than other populations in the United States to lack access to wastewater services and clean drinking water.'

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Press release follows:

Padilla to Chair Hearing on Improving Access to Clean Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure in Tribal Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, September 20, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife, will convene a hearing entitled “Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure in Tribal Communities.”

Senator Padilla will hear testimony from tribal water experts and stakeholders on a range of water-related challenges for tribes in the United States, including a lack of access to infrastructure, deferred maintenance of existing infrastructure, inadequate water quality, a shortage of operations and maintenance funding, emerging contaminants, technical assistance concerns, tribal operator certification issues, and workforce development shortfalls. The hearing will examine how these barriers prevent tribes from building or upgrading aging wastewater and drinking water infrastructure systems.

Despite significant federal funding for tribal water and sanitation needs from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, tribes are still more likely than other populations in the United States to lack access to wastewater services and clean drinking water. The Indian Health Service reports that approximately 17% of American Indian and Alaska Native homes lack adequate sanitation facilities, and Native American households are 19 times more likely than white households to lack indoor plumbing. 

WHEN:

Wednesday, September 20 at 2:30pm ET

WHO:

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

Mr. Ken Norton, Chair of the National Tribal Water Council (NTWC) and Director of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Environmental Protection Agency

Mr. Brian Bennon, Tribal Water Systems Department Director, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA)

Jola WallowingBull, Director, Northern Arapaho Tribal Engineering Department

WHERE:

LIVESTREAM:

Room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building

The hearing will be broadcast live here.

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