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Improving sanitation facilities on Indian Reservations in the Phoenix
Area is the responsibility of the Division of Sanitation Facility Construction
(DSFC). For the past 45 years, the Phoenix Area DSFC has conducted over 1,200
projects to provide water, sewer and solid waste disposal facilities on Reservations
in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
As Phoenix Area Tribes work to improve living conditions on the Reservations,
DSFC engineers are working to aid the Tribes in using the latest technology
to improve Reservation water systems. The Fallon Indian Colony of Nevada
has struggled for years with high arsenic content in their water system.
To help the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe solve this problem, IHS engineers
began studying arsenic removal treatment alternatives to improve the water
quality on the Fallon Indian Reservation and Colony.
Since 1997, the IHS has approved seven projects to help the Tribe deal
with the high arsenic levels in its community water system. The IHS and
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have contributed a total of $1,782,000
to the projects.
The Fallon project is the first arsenic removal plant of its size and
type to be managed by IHS. Due to the recent change in the EPA arsenic
standard, arsenic treatment may be required at more than 50 tribal water
systems nationwide. The Fallon project experiences will be used to more
efficiently address the arsenic problem at other locations as the DSFC
and Tribes work to insure good water is available to all Tribal members
in the Phoenix Area.
For more information on this article, contact
Curt Huskins, Phoenix Area
Office of Environmental Health & Engineering.
>> See the past feature articles.
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Local construction workers prepare foundation for new arsenic treatment plant.
