The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday announced that it issued compliance orders to correct violations for water systems on the Blackfeet and Fort Belknap Reservations.
The EPA Region 8 office says it has reached agreements with the Blackfeet Tribe to correct federal clean water violations for several water systems on the reservation. The violations include failure to monitor for lead, copper, and total coliform bacteria, failure to distribute reports on water quality to customers and failure to notify the public of certain federal violations.
The EPA also reached an agreement with the Fork Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribes over violations for disinfection byproduct and contaminant levels exceeding federal benchmarks and failure to remove the required percentage of organic carbon.
The EPA said in a press release that the agreements with tribes outline specific time frames for drinking water systems to come into compliance with drinking water regulations and include enforceable steps.