After years of unreliable access to clean water, federal government pledges $23.8 million towards new facility on Warm Springs reservation
A critical component of a solution to chronic water quality issues on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation may finally be in sight thanks to a new funding pledge from the Environmental Protection Agency and Indian Health Services.
The EPA and IHS announced a $23.8 million spending package to replace the aging Dry Creek Water Treatment Plant on the Warm Springs Reservation Dec. 20, 2022.
Warm Springs, the largest Native American reservation sharing geography with the state of Oregon, has struggled to maintain consistent access to clean water for those living on the reservation, especially since 2019.
A water main break in May 2019 led to Warm Springs reservation’s nearly 4,000 residents going more than two months without clean water. Additional failures within the water system caused numerous outages since then, most recently in November 2022.
Amid the ongoing water issues for Warm Springs, the federal government failed to supply a prompt long-term solution, despite the existence of treaties obligating the U.S. government to maintain a sustainable water supply for tribes.
While the new $23.8 million in funding is enough to replace the tribal-owned and operated water treatment plant, the tribe needs millions more to renovate the rest of the water infrastructure, including replacing aging pipes, some of which are made of crumbling terracotta.
No individuals on the reservation are asked to pay for water, and given the utility’s lack of revenue, the funding would likely need to come from elsewhere. Warm Springs recently received an additional $5 million in federal funding to repair its drinking water infrastructure in separate efforts by Democratic U.S. Senators from Oregon, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Ron Wyden.
Though the investments are significant, the funds are unlikely to cover a complete overhaul of the pipes and other infrastructure, which an estimate by Brian Mercier, the northwest regional director for IHS, placed at upwards of $60 million. Other estimates place the total cost at more than $100 million.
Whether the rate payment system for individuals will change is uncertain, though Alyssa Macy, Warm Springs chief operating officer, discussed it as a possibility with Oregon Public Broadcasting in 2019. Currently, only businesses on the reservation are charged for water use. Warm Springs government officials did not return multiple requests for comment.
The issue of payment for water is an important one for Warm Springs members. Prior to colonization, Indigenous peoples shared a reciprocal relationship with the environment and its resources — including the Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute tribes, whose descendants now make up the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs after the U.S. government forced the tribes off of their land in 1855 on to what is now the Warm Springs reservation.
Funding influx
After years of difficulties and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic without guaranteed clean water, the new interagency agreement between the EPA and IHS will provide an important aspect of a more permanent solution to water quality problems on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation.
The total estimated cost of the water treatment facility is around $24 million, with the EPA committing $10.2 million and IHS committing $13.6 million to the facility’s completion — nearly all of which comes from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill passed November 2021.
Jonathan Smith, Tribal Council chairman of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, applauded the move in a Dec. 20 statement.
“I am grateful that our senators, EPA and IHS have all stepped up to tackle the water quality challenge at Warm Springs,” Smith said. “This is an historic investment that will be deeply appreciated by Warm Springs people for decades to come."
Aging infrastructure
Warm Springs tribal citizens endured multiple boil water notices and water conservation notices in recent years, the longest of which lasted over two months, beginning May 2019.
More than three years later, threats to the clean water supply on the Warm Springs reservation continue. Most recently, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Branch of Public Utilities issued a boil water notice from Nov. 10 to Nov. 19, 2022.
The unreliable supply forces those living on the reservation to rely on bottled water for everything from showers to cooking.
Warm Springs relies on donations to meet the need for bottled water on the reservation. The Chúush Fund: Water For Warm Springs, a charity campaign by social justice organization Seeding Justice in collaboration with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, accepts donations and provides them directly to the tribe. A water distribution center on the reservation also accepts donations.
Although the tribe received some state and federal money over the years to address its water issues, the funds were, at best, a stop-gap, only able to provide short-term fixes before the treatment facility inevitably developed a new problem.
The high cost of replacing the failing infrastructure prevented the tribe from independently funding the replacement. Prior estimates put the cost of complete replacement between $30 and $40 million. The U.S. government has a treaty obligation to provide tribes with clean water.
Warm Springs last received $1 million in federal grants in 2018 to prevent “imminent system failure” — a paltry contribution compared to the new $23.8 million commitment by the IHS and EPA.
The new funding fulfills a guarantee Merkley and Wyden made in 2021 — the new infrastructure bill would bring a solution to Warm Springs’ water woes.
Merkley is the chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which dictates funding for these projects. He and Wyden also co-sponsored the Western Tribal Water Infrastructure Act in 2021, which promised $235 million in additional assistance to tribes for repairs to drinking water infrastructure.
“I want to make this real straightforward,” Wyden told reporters in October 2021 after touring the problem-plagued water facility. “Those who have considered this land their home since time immemorial deserve more than ‘boil your water’ notices.”
Decades of deferred maintenance on the water treatment facility led to the aging system proving faulty again and again. EPA scrutiny of the reservations’ water facility increased in 2019 after a break in the tribe’s main water line caused the water supply to fall out of compliance with federal law governing public water sources. The EPA ordered the tribe to fix its water supply or face massive fines but didn’t provide the funds necessary for a permanent fix.
Despite the total cost of a permanent fix being unfeasible for the tribe to fund itself, the federal government failed to provide any meaningful progress on a solution until earlier this year when Senate Democrats pledged to fund repairs.
The current water facility pulls water from the Deschutes River, which is subject to multiple diversions upriver before it reaches the tribe’s water treatment facility. This increases suspended solids in the water and makes the water more difficult to treat.
The river has high levels of contaminants, particularly in the lower Deschutes sub-basin, the location of the majority of tribal land in the region. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality classifies parts of the Deschutes River as “impaired.”
Last March, a fire at the water treatment facility meant tribal members were again without access to clean, running water — this time, just before the tribe’s annual Root Feast honoring clean water and traditional roots gathered and eaten by the tribe. At the time, Wyden called the reservation’s ongoing water struggles an “unconscionable situation,” again vowing he and Merkley would deliver on a solution.
A way forward
With the announcement of the funding agreement between IHS and the EPA to build a brand new water treatment facility for the tribe, Wyden and Merkley appear to be working toward that goal.
“Water is a human right, and investment in this human right for Tribal communities like the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs has been neglected by the federal government for far too long,” Wyden said in a Dec. 20, 2022 statement. “These much-needed resources for a water treatment plant will help to reverse this shameful injustice for the Warm Springs, and I’ll keep battling until this community can count on a dependable and safe water supply.”
Merkley echoed those sentiments in his statement after the EPA announcement, referring back to when he, too, visited the beleaguered water treatment plant.
“I saw first-hand the state of the existing water treatment facility when I toured it with senior administration and tribal officials, and I am pleased to see the EPA join IHS to fund a new, modern treatment plant,” Merkley said in a Dec. 20, 2022 statement. “Ensuring a reliable supply of clean drinking water is important to meeting our trust obligation to the Warm Springs and to protecting the health of the community.”
EPA officials did not provide an estimated completion time for the water treatment facility, though the project's design phase will begin this year.
Suzanna Shadowski, EPA communications specialist, said the EPA is providing technical assistance to the tribe while the project gets underway.
“The Tribe has been working diligently on repairs and improvements to components that needed upgrade,” Shadowski said. “As the Tribe works through those efforts, EPA staff have been involved in providing both technical assistance to the Tribe and helping to assure safety of the water supply and compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. EPA has worked to be supportive of the Tribe in this regard.”
The treatment facility will continue to source water from the Deschutes River. According to the EPA, it will use “up-to-date technologies and ensure consistent high-quality drinking water standards,” but it has not yet provided specifics.
While the news of the new treatment facility is welcome, it remains to be seen if its completion will come before another issue at the existing water facility disrupts Warm Springs’ access to clean water.
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