Santee Sioux Nation Water System Project Gains FAST-41 Coverage

WASHINGTON (June 24, 2025) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that the Santee Sioux Nation Water System Capacity and Infrastructure Improvements Project is the latest to gain FAST-41 coverage. If permitted, the project would bring clean water to the Nebraska Santee Sioux Tribe years after their water supply was deemed unsafe.  

“The Permitting Council is pleased to bring the benefits of our unique federal program to this project,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Access to clean drinking water is critical for all American communities. I am confident that with our agency’s guidance we can ensure that the people of the Santee Sioux Nation receive the most efficient and effective path through the permitting process.”

The $43 million project includes a 31-mile, approximately 10-inch diameter water transmission line, along with necessary infrastructure, aimed at delivering clean and reliable water to the Tribe. The project’s starting point is in Lake Andes, South Dakota, and would deliver clean water to the Santee Sioux Nation in Knox County, Nebraska. 

Sponsored by the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska, the project aims to supply critically needed safe drinking water to Tribal residents. In 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7, deemed the Tribe’s current drinking water should not be consumed due to increased levels of manganese found in water samples. Since then, water supplies have been shipped in to the Tribal residents.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture serves as the lead agency for this project. Learn more about the Santee Sioux Nation Water System Capacity and Infrastructure Improvements Project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. Learn more about the Permitting Council at permitting.gov. 

About the Permitting Council and FAST-41

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.