The federal government’s programs for tribal water services are hampered by a lack of follow-up to support operations and maintenance, along with overly specific qualification rules and other administrative hurdles, a new federal report says.
The report, issued Sept. 23 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), makes a dozen recommendations for legislative and administrative actions that it says would improve both the water services that protect people’s health in rural Alaska communities and elsewhere, as well as the effectiveness of the money spent to provide them.
The federal government provided a little over $1 billion in 2025 to design and build water systems in tribal communities around the nation, the report said. About three quarters of the money was from the Indian Health Service, while the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture provided the remainder.
However, there are some inconsistencies in application requirements from the different agencies, creating both gaps in support and administrative burdens for communities needing help, according to the report.
One of the key recommendations concerns deteriorating and failing infrastructure. Inadequate support for operations and maintenance winds up creating more costs for the federal agencies, the report said.
“Tribal water infrastructure deteriorating or prematurely failing because of insufficient [operations and maintenance] can increase long-term capital costs to the federal government when it has to fund extensive repairs or replacement,” it said.
To address the problem, the GAO report recommends that Congress authorize the Indian Health Service to start a pilot program to fund operations and maintenance. If that proves effective, such funding could be sustained into the future, the report said.
Currently, the Indian Health Service considers operations and maintenance funding to be outside of its jurisdiction, the report said.
The consequences of poor operations and maintenance go beyond dollars, the report noted.
“Lack of tribal capacity to fund [operations and maintenance] can create health risks by reducing tribal members’ access to safe drinking water,” it said.
In Alaska in particular, there are special challenges that make it difficult for communities to keep their water systems working in good order, the report said.
One is the high cost of energy in remote rural areas. Alaska Native villages rely on electricity and fuel to keep their stored water from freezing in the winter, the report noted. Doing that, which is necessary to keep water systems operating, can consume a third of communities’ total energy costs, said the report, which relied on information provided by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
Freeze-ups in pipes and water storage systems can be extremely disruptive in rural Alaska communities. During particularly cold weather last winter, several Northwest Arctic Borough communities lost service, with wide-ranging effects like school closures. The state issued a disaster declaration in response.
One of the communities, Ambler, went without water and sewer service for months. Repairs are currently underway.
The report made several recommendations for altering qualifications and application rules. For example, the definition of qualified tribal households is too narrow and should be broadened by Congress, the report said.
Another recommendation is for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to drop some of its financial reporting requirements, which have proved difficult for many tribal governments and which the other agencies do not require.
The report is based on site visits to tribal communities in Alaska and Arizona, as well as consultation with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and other organizations.