Tribal water infrastructure needs more than one-time fix, senators told

Photo: Brian Bennon, a water expert with the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, told a Senate hearing that funding for water infrastructure is good but that it needs to be supplemented by funding for operation and maintenance if the systems are to last.

The infusion of federal money for infrastructure projects is a welcome first step toward fixing deep problems with water systems on tribal lands, but it’s only a first step, an Arizona official testified Wednesday.

Brian Bennon, director of the tribal water department at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, said tribes need to make sure they have funding for operation and maintenance of the systems to keep them going, comparing it to taking care of a car.

“There’s many things. I call it preventative maintenance to try to get as much … life out of the system as possible, and maybe even getting it beyond the original design life,” Bennon said in testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “That takes money.”

Bennon was joined by Ken Norton, director of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Environmental Protection Agency, and Jola WallowingBull, director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Engineering Department, to testify on the problems that come with underfunding of Native water systems.

“This is an often overlooked and underfunded area, with serious impacts on the health and well-being of countless Native American communities,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., in his opening statement to the hearing. Padilla is chairman of the committee’s Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Subcommittee.

The hearing comes amid an influx of federal funding for infrastructure projects across the country, including billions directed to tribal projects.

The $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that was passed in 2021 included $13 billion for Indigenous communities, with $4.4 billion of that amount dedicated to construction of drinking water and sanitation facilities, according to the White House.

The American Rescue Plan of 2021 included $1.75 billion for tribes, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which said $20 million was for […]

Full article: azcapitoltimes.com