(KNZA)--Tribal program grant awards are provided to the Kickapoo Tribe, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska , allocated by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Tribal Affairs.  

EPA region 7 spokesman Chris Whitley says the grants are awarded based on need and availability(Play Audio)

The Kickapoo Tribe, based near Horton, receives three grants, totaling 370-thousand-406-dollars, to support water quality, tribal response and general assistance programs for environmental protection and improvement. 

$257,106 are earmarked for the tribe's water quality program, and will support the monitoring of streams, a lagoon, ponds and groundwater wells; conduct a watershed assessment, evaluate the tribe's monitoring strategy; prepare an assessment report; train a water quality coordinator and water quality technician; and organize workshops and outreach seminars. 

$100,000 will be used to allow the tribe to begin the process of establishing a formal tribal response program to address contaminated sites on the reservation with the goal of returning them to beneficial reuse. 

$13,300 are earmarked for the tribe's general assistance program, and will address solid waste dumping, environmental outreach and education, and environmental and financial management. 

Two grants, totaling 15-thousand-673-dollars, are awarded to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, headquartered near Mayetta, to support water pollution control efforts and provide general assistance to the tribe's environmental protection efforts. 

A $12,173 grant will allow the tribe to continue to build capacity for comprehensive planning and environmental protection programs to protect the quality of the environment within the reservation. Funding will administer an environmental office, develop water programs to reduce pollution sources, build capacity for solid waste management, and assist with community outreach and environmental education.     A $3,500 grant will allow the tribe to continue to conduct surface and groundwater monitoring on the reservation to determine whether the water is impaired or unsafe for human contact. The grant will also fund a quality assurance project plan and assessment report; revisions to the monitoring strategy as needed; water quality training; and outreach activities to provide tribal members with information about water quality.                    

The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, based in Reserve, is awarded a pair of grants, totaling 167-thousand-712 dollars, to support the tribe’s environmental protection efforts.               

A $135,000 performance partnership grant, expressed through a cooperative agreement, will provide administrative flexibility and support to the tribe’s Environmental Department, which has intermittently conducted surface water monitoring in partnership with EPA Region 7 since 2003.                                          

Under this grant, the tribe will build on its existing water quality monitoring program to better inform the tribal council on the quality of the waters on the reservation. Creeks, rivers and ponds that exist on the reservation or its boundaries will be monitored for nutrients, turbidity, sediment and macroinvertibrate populations.                                                                                                                                                    

A separate grant of $32,712 will help to provide tribal members with current guidance, information and assistance related to radon safety, awareness, assessment, mitigation and preventive methods. Radon is an odorless naturally-occurring gas that can infiltrate homes and other buildings and pose serious health risks.