EPA issues deadline for NTUA cleanup

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given Navajo Tribal Utility Authority until the end of the year to come into compliance with permit limits for its Tuba City Wastewater Treatment Plant and until July 2007 for its Window Rock treatment facility.

Under the EPA order, NTUA has until March 31 to develop plans to improve its wastewater treatment operations at the facilities, according to Wendy Chavez, EPA media liaison.

EPA and NTUA have agreed on corrective actions the utility will take to comply with wastewater discharge, monitoring and maintenance regulations at the treatment plants.

The federal regulatory agency said that as early as January 2000, NTUA violated its pollutant discharge permits by exceeding effluent limits for biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, fecal coliform and/or E. coli, and residual chlorine.

Both facilities failed to report monitoring data, reported it incorrectly, or submitted illegible reports, EPA said.

In addition, on July 19, a discharge occurred at the Tuba City treatment facility when a levee broke, releasing partially treated sewage that flowed into Moenkopi Wash. NTUA has since repaired the levee.

Discharges from the Window Rock Wastewater Treatment Plant end up in Black Creek, a tributary to Puerco River. The Tuba City plant discharges to Moenkopi Wash. Both water sources are tributaries to the Little Colorado River.

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits contain limits on discharges, monitoring and reporting requirements, and other provisions to ensure the protection of human health and water quality.

Alexis Strauss, director of EPA's Water Division for the Pacific Southwest region, said that permit limits are established to prevent wastewater discharges from polluting nearby water bodies and harming drinking water resources and habitat.

"We are confident the Tribal Authority will promptly make the needed corrections to bring these plants into Clean Water Compliance," Strauss said.

The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency was given authority by U.S. EPA in January to manage its own Surface Water Quality Standards program; however, the federal agency still has oversight over the pollutant discharge program.

During a presentation at the winter session of the Navajo Nation Council, NNEPA Executive Director Stephen B. Etsitty said the next step is to use the newly approved water quality standards to submit an application for NPDES oversight.

Etsitty said the application to U.S. EPA is in its final draft form and will be presented to EPA for review and approval.