Location: White Mesa, Utah

Issue: The Ute Mountain Ute tribe needed to access federal funding to upgrade its water and wastewater systems

Outcome: RCAC helped the Tribe to access US Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds to upgrade its aging water system

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe community, in southeastern Utah, needed funds to upgrade aging water and wastewater systems and to expand services for new customers. The Tribe could access US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development funds but didn’t have the technical expertise necessary to develop the funding applications.

The work was complex and technically challenging because the groundwater source had high arsenic levels. For more than a year, RCAC helped the Tribe obtain the Preliminary Engineering Report and Environmental Assessment. With the reports in hand, the Tribe submitted a complete application package for $1.6 million, which was approved. The Tribe and USDA signed grant agreements in early May, and construction began on the water system and on wastewater treatment system repairs shortly afterward.

USDA, acknowledging that the Tribe has limited technical expertise, has also requested that RCAC provide managerial and financial training to assist with grant management and reporting.