On October 31, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a new investment of almost $82 million to provide Western tribal communities with safe, clean water to drink – and $7.3 million of those funds is going to the San Carlos Apache Tribe.

Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Commissioner David Palumbo and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Gary Gold made the announcement in person during a visit to the San Carlos Apache Reservation, where they met with Tribal Council members. It was also announced in a DOI press release.

Tribal Chairman Terry Rambler said in a Facebook post that the funds will be used to plan and design a new drinking water system that will deliver water from Talkalai Lake, on whose shore Palumbo and Gold met with Council members, to a new water treatment facility.

Rambler said the new facility will tie into three tanks in Seven Mile, after the water is treated. In turn, those tanks tie into the Tribal drinking water delivery system, which also feeds Peridot and Gilson Wash. “We will have more and higher quality of drinking water,” he added.

“Much of the population of the tribe resides in this area [the central portion of the Reservation] without access to safe and reliable drinking water,” read the DOI press release. “The area is prone to frequent water curtailments or shutdowns due to poor water quality and system mechanical failures, which often occur in the hot summer months.”

“Our people have had to rely on groundwater, which often has high levels of arsenic and other contaminants. The quality of surface water is much better than groundwater.

The funding will also make us eligible for the second round of construction funding under this program,” Rambler said.

The new federal investment was established through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and Palumbo said it will “help our Tribal partners ensure a basic necessity like clean, reliable drinking water is available in their communities.”