Monday, July 16, 2012

Water Quality Monitoring Grant To Nebraska Tribe

EPA Region 7’s Office of Tribal Affairs has awarded a $39,942 performance partnership grant to the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska to support the tribe’s water quality monitoring and protection efforts. EPA’s grant, expressed through a cooperative agreement, provides administrative flexibility and support to the tribe’s Office of Environmental Protection, which has conducted water quality monitoring under the federal Clean Water Act since 1996.

Under this grant, the tribe will continue to monitor groundwater, fish tissue, wetlands, streams and ponds on the reservation. The Office of Environmental Protection will analyze data to identify issues of interest or concern for future monitoring, and will use data to inform the tribal council and its people on the water quality of the reservation.

EPA provides financial assistance to states and tribes to help them implement environmental programs. States and tribes may receive these funds in individual environmental program categorical grants, or choose to combine grants in a performance partnership grant (PPG). PPGs, such as the one awarded to the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska, streamline administrative requirements, give states and tribes greater flexibility to direct resources to their most pressing environmental problems, and make it easier to fund efforts that cut across program boundaries. The Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska is one of nine federally recognized tribes within EPA Region 7.


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