Today, August 15, 2019 join the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa and the Environmental Protection Agency in the Signing Ceremony of Regulatory Treatment as a State in the Development of Tribal Water Quality Standards.
This signing ceremony will be from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm at the Meskwaki Tribal Center, located at 349 Meskwaki Rd in Tama, Iowa.
To view the complete program CLICK HERE
Program Agenda:
- 11:30 am – Opening Ceremony
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- Color Guard
- Drum Service
- Invocation Prayer
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- 11:45 am – Welcome
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- Anthony Waseskuk, Tribal Chairman
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- 11:50 am – Meskwaki Natural Resources Water Program
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- Dr. Jarrett Pfrimmer, Meskwaki Natural Resource Director
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- 11:55 am – Tribal Water
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- Johnathon Buffalo, Historical Preservation Director
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- 12:00 pm – Region 7 Administrator
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- Jim Gulliford, EPA Regional Administrator
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- 12:05 pm – Signing of Treatment as a State (TAS) and Certificate of Achievement
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- Tribal Chairman and EPA Administrator
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- 12:10 pm – Closing Remarks
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- Dr. Jarrett Pfrimmer, Meskwaki Natural Resource Director
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- 12:10 pm – Closing Prayer
- 12:15 pm – Refreshments / Social / Media Availability
Treatment as a State (TAS) – without a regulatory TAS the Tribe is limited to continuation of surface water monitoring without any authority or say in what flows on to tribal lands.
- TAS is a required step within the EPA water program in achieving Tribal Water Quality Standards (WQS).
- With an EPA approved regulatory TAS, the Tribe has the capacity and authority to draft Tribal Water Quality Standards.
- WQS provide the regulatory and scientific foundation for protecting water quality under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
- WQS not only set water quality goals for the Tribe’s water bodies, but also serve as the regulatory basis for establishing water quality based treatment controls and strategies.
- To administer a WQS program under the CWA, a tribe must apply to EPA for authorization to be treated in a similar manner as a state (TAS).