EPA Tribal Water Quality Grants and PFAS Funding

August 5, 2025 · 6 min read

Dr. Angela Crow Feather

EPA Tribal Water Quality Grants: Navigating PFAS Funding for Indian Country

The first time I ran PFAS analysis on samples from our reservation's water sources, the results sat on my desk for three days before I could write the report. Not because the science was difficult, but because I understood what those numbers meant for families I knew by name. That is the difference between studying contamination in a distant lab and studying it in your own homeland.

Tribal nations across the country are facing an emerging contaminant crisis without the monitoring infrastructure to measure it or the treatment capacity to address it. Federal funding exists to close that gap, but accessing it requires understanding a patchwork of programs that were not always designed with tribal institutions in mind. This guide maps the funding landscape for tribal water quality research, with particular attention to PFAS -- the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that have contaminated drinking water on reservations from Montana to the Southwest.

The Scale of the Problem

A spatial analysis published in Environmental Health Perspectives identified at least fifty-eight reservations located within six miles of active military installations, including eighteen installations with confirmed PFAS contamination and six where groundwater concentrations exceeded 100,000 parts per trillion. Yet tribal public water systems have been largely excluded from systematic federal PFAS testing. The data gap is enormous, and filling it is the first step toward remediation.

In 2024, EPA finalized enforceable maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water -- a landmark rule that the agency confirmed it will maintain going forward. For tribal water systems, this regulation creates both an obligation and an opportunity: an obligation to monitor, and an opportunity to seek federal dollars to build the capacity for that monitoring.

Key EPA Funding Programs for Tribal Water Quality

Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP)

GAP is the foundational funding mechanism for tribal environmental capacity. It provides financial and technical assistance to tribal governments for planning, developing, and establishing environmental protection programs. For FY2026, EPA is accepting proposals for GAP grants from the Congressional appropriation, with work plans beginning on or after October 1, 2026. Regional deadlines vary -- for example, EPA Region 9 set a workplan deadline of February 2026.

GAP is flexible by design. Assistance can be tailored to each tribe's needs, and EPA regional representatives work directly with tribal staff to develop work plans. If your tribe does not yet have a formal environmental program, GAP is where you begin. It can fund staff positions, training, and the development of tribal environmental ordinances and monitoring protocols.

Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Tribal Grant

This is the primary funding vehicle for PFAS work in Indian Country. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $5 billion nationally to the EC-SDC program, with a 2% tribal set-aside -- approximately $24 million in the initial funding year, distributed through EPA regional offices based on the Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants Tribal Set-Aside formula.

EC-SDC grants support sampling, testing, treatment, and remediation of PFAS and other emerging contaminants in small community water systems. For tribal researchers, this program can fund the analytical infrastructure and field work needed to generate baseline contamination data.

Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants -- Tribal Set-Aside (DWIG-TSA)

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided historic funding through the DWIG-TSA program, including $4 billion specifically for addressing PFAS and other emerging contaminants. Tribal nations can apply for infrastructure upgrades -- treatment systems, source water protection, distribution improvements -- through their EPA regional office.

EPA Water Research Grants

EPA's Office of Research and Development funds investigator-initiated water research, including national priorities on PFAS impacts in rural communities. These competitive grants can support the kind of applied, community-based research that tribal college labs are positioned to lead.

Integrating Indigenous Data Sovereignty into Your Proposal

One of the most important developments in tribal research over the past decade is the formalization of Indigenous data governance frameworks. The CARE Principles -- Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics -- provide a structure for ensuring that research data generated on tribal lands serves tribal priorities first.

When I write water quality proposals, I include a data governance section that addresses three questions directly:

Who owns the data? Our tribal council passed a research code that asserts tribal ownership of all environmental data collected on reservation lands.
Who controls access? Data sharing agreements specify that no results are published or shared with external parties without tribal review and approval.
Who benefits? Every monitoring project feeds directly into our tribal environmental program's decision-making, from well advisories to infrastructure planning.

Federal agencies are increasingly receptive to these frameworks. The federal government committed to respecting tribal data sovereignty and recognizing Indigenous Knowledge, including allowing tribal nations to use self-certified data in federal processes. Writing this into your proposal is not a risk -- it is a strength that demonstrates institutional maturity and community accountability.

How to Apply: Practical Steps for Tribal Nations

Identify your EPA regional office and tribal liaison: Each region has dedicated staff who work with tribal applicants. They can clarify which programs your community is eligible for and help navigate the application process.
Assess your current capacity: If your tribe does not have an environmental program, apply for GAP first. Build the staff and planning infrastructure before pursuing infrastructure or research grants.
Conduct preliminary sampling: Even limited baseline data strengthens your proposal. If you can demonstrate that contamination exists, your application moves from hypothetical to urgent.
Develop a tribal research code: If your nation does not have a formal research code or data governance policy, draft one. The Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance offer resources and templates.
Partner with a tribal college or university: If your tribal environmental program lacks laboratory capacity, a nearby tribal college may have the equipment and expertise to serve as an analytical partner. These partnerships strengthen both the grant application and the long-term research infrastructure.
Submit through Grants.gov: Most EPA tribal grants require registration and submission through Grants.gov. Build in time for the registration process, which can take several weeks for first-time applicants.

The Budget Landscape

The FY2026 budget process was turbulent. The initial White House proposal called for dramatic cuts to EPA, but congressional action restored most tribal program funding. The final appropriations bill preserves Tribal General Assistance Program and Tribal Air Quality Management grants near FY2025 levels and increases overall state and tribal assistance grant funding. EPA's total FY2026 budget stands at approximately $8.8 billion -- a modest decrease from FY2025 but far above the administration's request.

This matters because it signals that tribal environmental programs retain bipartisan support in Congress, even in a constrained fiscal environment. But the lesson from the budget fight is clear: tribes that can demonstrate program effectiveness and community impact are better positioned to sustain their funding through political cycles.

Looking Forward

Mni Wiconi is not a slogan in our lab. It is the reason we test every sample, train every student, and write every proposal. Water is life, and the work of protecting it on tribal lands requires both the best science we can produce and the deepest accountability to the communities we serve.

The funding is available. The need is undeniable. What remains is the hard, detailed work of translating community priorities into proposals that federal agencies will fund -- and then executing that research with the integrity our nations deserve.

Tools like Granted can help tribal college researchers navigate the proposal process, from analyzing solicitation requirements to drafting sections that honor both scientific rigor and community accountability.

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