Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has awarded a $1 million grant to the Upper Sioux Community to help with construction of a new wastewater treatment plant. The new facility will replace the current drainfield type system which is nearing the end of its life cycle. The facility provides services for about 50 homes and four tribal enterprises, including Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort. The same project was funded with a $1 million grant in fiscal year 2011.

“We are proposing to construct a membrane batch reactor (mbr) wastewater treatment plant. Our current system is inadequate to sustain our community into the future. We will begin construction late this summer and expect the plant to go online early summer of 2013 with a projected cost of $4.3 million. With the new system in place, we will be able to accommodate our current needs and projected growth for the foreseeable future,” said Upper Sioux Chairman Kevin Jensvold.

“We are grateful for the assistance that the SMSC has provided to us, both financial and technical, for their help in enhancing our infrastructure needs,” he said.

 “We are glad to be able to help out our relatives at Upper Sioux,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks.

The Upper Sioux Community near Granite Falls, Minnesota, has an enrollment of 486 tribal members, with a land base of approximately 2,000 acres. Their 1938 reservation boundaries consisted of 734 acres. The Upper Sioux Community and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community have had close social and cultural ties for generations as members of the Oceti Sakowin, the Seven Council Fires of the Great Sioux Nation.

In 2001 the SMSC funded Prairie’s Edge Casino Resort with a $21 million loan. In previous years, the SMSC has funded a land purchase and economic and infrastructure development, including extensive repairs to the wastewater treatment plant, start-up costs for a police department, health benefits, and erosion control. Since 1997 the SMSC has provided the Upper Sioux Community with more than $12.4 million in assistance.