About Us

Projects are identified in terms of the facilities to be provided, the cost, and the number of homes to be served by the facilities. The inventory of sanitation facilities needs for existing homes is maintained in the IHS Sanitation Deficiency System (SDS). The data are updated annually to account for inflation, changing state and Federal regulations, to add new deficiencies, and to delete the deficiencies addressed by projects funded by IHS and others. Sanitation needs for new and like-new homes are maintained and updated semi-annually.

These sanitation deficiency inventories are necessary for internal program management, budget formulation and justification for appropriations, and are a basis for resource allocation to Areas and tribes. The deficiency inventories are used to provide a wide variety of information to members of Congress, the Office of Management and Budget (O MB], the General Accounting Office (GAO), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and various other Federal entities who are interested in the needs of tribes.

As part of the inventory of needs, the IHS SFC Program maintains Community Deficiency Profiles which estimate the number of homes with sanitation deficiencies at various deficiency levels. These profiles are used to monitor and evaluate the progress in eliminating and correcting deficiencies and provides a reliable estimate of the number of existing homes eligible for assistance through the SFC Program. As such, the Community Deficiency Profiles may be used as a SFC baseline measure. (Refer to the Yellow Book and Baseline Measures Workgroup Final Report for further information concerning baseline measures.)

In the course of developing projects to meet sanitation deficiencies, IHS works cooperatively with tribes to identify the funding sources, provide interagency coordination, and assist the tribes to meet the program requirements of the various agencies which provide the funding. Meeting the diverse sanitation needs of Indian communities and homes often requires funds from different sources, which may result in complex multi-agency funded projects. In these situations, IHS will provide necessary technical assistance with grant application descriptions and justifications. If successful, the diverse needs of tribes and varied requirements of other agencies can be coordinated into a single efficient and effective project.

The SFC Program routinely works cooperatively with the tribes, TDHEs, and with many other governmental agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), toward achieving objectives of all the agencies, especially when it involves the provision of sanitation facilities. For example, HUD funding for sanitation facilities construction in support of new HUD homes is often provided to the SFC program by tribes through their Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs). Similarly, agreements involving the tribes, the IHS, and the EPA Indian Set-Aside Wastewater Grants Program have resulted in EPA grant funds being transferred at tribal request to the SFC Program for administration of the projects.

1. projects to serve new or like-new housing, such as Indian homes being constructed or rehabilitated by the BIA-Home Improvement Program (HIP), tribes, individual homeowners, or other nonprofit organizations,
2. projects to serve existing housing,
3. special projects (studies, training, or other needs related to sanitation facilities construction), and
4. emergency projects. Special and Emergency Project funding total approximately $1 million annually.

1. selecting appropriate alternatives (for example, those affordable to operate and maintain),
2. soils testing,
3. surveying,
4. obtaining construction permits,
5. preparing drawings,
6. preparing specifications and other contract documents,
7. managing the construction, and
8. start-up of the facilities, including training.

The design of sanitation facilities requires good judgment. A deficient design can have an adverse impact on the health and safety of a population. Therefore, design and construction services are performed and/or supervised by a licensed engineer. All SFC Program engineers at or above the level of district engineer are licensed in at least one state.

1. financial and technical assistance to Indian tribes and communities in the establishment, training, and equipping of utility organizations to operate and maintain Indian sanitation facilities;
2. ongoing technical assistance and training in the management of utility organizations which will operate and maintain sanitation facilities; and
3. O&M assistance for emergency repairs to tribal sanitation facilities when necessary to avoid a health hazard.

Upon completion of a project, the facilities constructed are either owned by or transferred to the tribe, individual homeowner, or other responsible non-Federal entity. Often, construction projects include funds for training operators, initial start-up, and for equipment needed for maintenance.

SFC provides technical assistance to the new owners of the facilities and provides training for the proper operation and maintenance of the new facilities. For example, tribal operators are instructed on the operation and maintenance of chlorination and fluoridation equipment, pumps, motor control systems, sewage collection systems, lift stations, and wastewater treatment facilities. The SFC Program also provides technical assistance to tribes in the development of tribal utility organizations for the operation, maintenance, and management of community water and sewer facilities. This assistance may include the provision of equipment and tools for the utility organizations (as part of a project) and development of a rate structure to determine appropriate customer water and sewer fees. It may also include O&M manuals, as-built drawings, and technical handbooks.

IHS sanitation facilities construction monies cannot be used for O&M assistance (e.g., to pay operator wages or electric power bills) except when providing training, technical assistance, and/or equipment in conjunction with a construction project for facilities provided under that project. However, O&M training also can be provided with program funding. Often IHS uses program funds for classroom training of operators from multiple tribes. It also provides O&M technical assistance at the site of the sanitation facility.