BY KRISTA ALLEN
WESTERN AGENCY BUREAU
TUBA CITY — Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has agreed to spend $6 million to bring six of its wastewater treatment facilities into compliance with the provisions of the federal Clean Water Act and the Navajo Nation Clean Water Act, the Environ mental Protection Agency announced last week.
Under agreements with the EPA and the Navajo Nation EPA, NTUA will invest the money to improve its facilities in Chinle, Ganado, Kayenta, Piñon, and Tónaneesdizí, Arizona, and in Navajo, New Mexico.
NNEPA took enforcement action against NTUA for National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit violations at the six facilities after the utility company reported it.
NTUA had discharged pollutants above the limits allowed at the six facilities, thereby violating its NPDES permits, according to the federal agen- cy. The utility company also violated its permits by not submitting timely and complete reports; and by inade- quately maintaining and operating existing treatment systems.
The violations were discovered during EPA and NNEPA compliance evaluation inspections in 2014 and in 2015.
For instance, a discharge monitoring report for the Tónaneesdizí facility showed that from January 2012 through September 2015 it had exceeded the limits for ammonia, biological sources, chlorine, and E. coli. And the report for the Ganado facility indicated 16 exceedances of limits for chlorine, from January 2009 to December 2011. A recent review though indicated lower exceedances.
“Four facilities – Chinle, Navajo, Piñon, and Tuba City – had intermittent violations of E. coli limits, a potential risk to human health for those in contact with the discharge in affected waters,” Margot Perez-Sullivan, spokesperson for EPA Region 9, told the Navajo Times. “All of the facilities had other exceedances of ammonia, biological oxygen demand, residual chlorine or total suspended solids with potential to harm aquatic life.”
NTUA on Oct. 28, 2014 signed an NNEPA-issued “administrative order or consent” pursuant to NPDES permit effluent limitation violations at the six facilities.
“NNEPA took enforcement action against NTUA for NPDES permit effluent limit violations” at the six facilities, NNEPA executive director Donald Benn stated in the fiscal 2016 second quarter report.
The six facilities collect and treat sewage from about 27,300 residents within the Navajo Nation, according to the federal agency. The facilities’ dis- charges “of treated domestic wastewater” run into the Little Colorado and San Juan rivers.
In a statement to the Times, Alexis Strauss, acting regional administrator for Region 9, said that the federal agency has worked with the NNEPA for nearly 40 years, “protecting public health and the environment.” And that with these agreements, the NTUA is committing to the protection of the Little Colorado and San Juan rivers.
The agreements require each of the facilities in question to return to full compliance with both federal and tribal laws by early 2017. The agreements will bring the NTUA into compliance with the NPDES permits at the sites, and the Nation’s EPA deal will require the utility company to develop maintenance and operation manuals to prevent future violations from occurring.
The agreements follow up on last year’s NTUA settlement for the Window Rock treatment facility, in which the utility company was fined $25,000 for violations of the tribal Clean Water Act – the first time that a tribally-owned entity paid a penalty for violations.
Benn says the NNEPA writes NPDES permits on behalf of the federal agency and has a technical staff that possesses federal Clean Water Act credentials to conduct compliance inspections on permitted facilities located in the Nation.
“Being locally situated, the NNEPA technical staff are on the forefront of detecting and addressing noncompliance,” he said. “There is continuous coordination between EPA and the Navajo Nation EPA.”
Deenise Becenti, spokesperson for NTUA, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Monday evening.