"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Oaks Community Benefits from Recovery Act

OAKS, Oklahoma - A community within the Cherokee Nation will have improved access to vital water services through funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 thanks to a collaboration among the tribe and several other entities. Oaks, in far southern Delaware County, will be one beneficiary of the funding made available through the ARRA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Indian Health Service recently announced $90 million nationwide in “shovel ready” infrastructure projects designed to better protect human and environmental health in Indian Country.

Cherokee Nation in collaboration with Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Oklahoma Water Resources Board Emergency Grant, Oklahoma Water Resources Board REAP, USDA Rural Development, EPA CWA ARRA Construction and Administrative groups have brought together a total of over $1 million in funding for the Oaks project, including $213,540 in ARRA funding through the tribe.

“This project will construct new wastewater lagoons and a spray irrigation system for the town of Oaks,” said Billy Hix, director of Environmental Health and Engineering. “The current lagoons are in a failure state and are leaking into Spring Creek. The risk of human contact is very high due to community use of the creek for swimming, fishing and traditional gatherings.”

Oaks is currently under a consent order from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality to correct the failing lagoons. The project has the engineering completed and a permit to construct is in place. When completed, the project will improve water and wastewater services for approximately 85 Indian homes as well as the Oaks Indian Mission and Oaks Public Schools.

The project will be bid out for construction after the transfer of federal funds is processed.