current state of tribal water quality
TRANSCRIPT
NAVAJO NATION EPA
WATER QUALITY/NPDES PROGRAM
Current State of Tribal Water Quality
Preview
•Program
background
•Jurisdiction
•Sampling program
•401 Certification
•NPDES Program
•319 Program
Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency
Air Quality Control
Program
Manager: Glenna Lee
Public Water Systems
Supervision Program
Manager: Yolanda Barney
Storage Tanks (UST)
Program
Manager: Warren Roan
Environmental Law
Enforcement
Manager: Anderson Harvey
Pesticide Program
Manager: Vacant
Water Quality/NNPDES
Program
Manager: Patrick Antonio
Resource Conservation &
Recovery Program
Manager: Frederick
Sherman
Radon Program Underground Injection
Control Program
Leaking UST
Program
Superfund Program
Manager: Dariel Yazzie
Navajo Nation Laws
• NN Environmental Protection Act
• NN Air Pollution Prevention and Control Act
• NN Safe Drinking Water Act
• NN Pesticide Act
• NN Solid Waste Act
• NN Underground Storage Tank Act
• NN Clean Water Act
About Our Program•Established in 1992 with a grant from U.S.
EPA
•8 staff; Window Rock, Shiprock, Chinle,
Flagstaff
•Protect Navajo Nation Surface Waters
through implementation and enforcement
of the Clean Water Act and the Navajo
Nation Clean Water Act
The Clean Water Act•Objective is to restore and maintain the
chemical, physical, and biological
integrity of the Nation’s Waters.
•National goal: Eliminate the discharge of
pollutants into navigable waters by 1985.
Tribal Authority – CWA Section 518 (e)
•Treatment As States – The administrator is
authorized to treat an Indian Tribe as a
state for purposes of Title II and Sections
104, 106, 303, 305, 308, 309, 314, 319, 401,
402, 404, and 406 of this Act to the degree
necessary to carry out the objectives of
this section
Navajo Nation
•July 23, 1999 – Navajo Nation Council
passed the Navajo Nation Clean Water Act
(NNCWA)
•March 23, 2006 – Navajo Nation Surface Water
Quality Standards (NNSWQS) – APPROVED
•Completed triannual review 2015 NNSWQS
•March 23, 2006 – received TAS for 401
Certification
“Waters of the Navajo Nation”• Means all surface waters, including but not limited to portions of
rivers, streams (including perennial, intermittent and ephemeral
streams and their tributaries), lakes, ponds, dry washes, marshes,
waterways, wetlands, mudflats, sandflats, sloughs, prairie potholes,
wet meadows, playa lakes, impoundments, riparian areas, springs,
and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface, natural or
artificial, public or private, including those dry during part of the
year, that are within or border the navajo nation. This definition shall
be interpreted as broadly as possible to include all waters that are
currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use
in interstate, intertribal or foreign commerce. Consistent with federal
requirements, the director may exclude from waters of the navajo
nation certain waste treatment systems.
Publications• NN Clean Water Acts
• Navajo Nation Surface Water Quality Standards
• Guidance for Assessing the Quality of Navajo Nation Surface
Waters to Determine Impairment
• Water Quality Protection Guidelines for the Navajo Nation
Forest
• Navajo Nation – Chinle Wash Watershed-Preliminary Surface
Water Quality Assessment Report (integrated 305(b) report
and 303(d) listing)
• Navajo Nation Water Quality Standards for Metals and
Protection of Crops, Livestock, and Humans
About Navajo• 39,000 miles of streams
(2,265 miles with
designated uses)
•Majority of surface
flow is ephemeral &
intermittent
• 29 watersheds (8 digit)
• 28 active NPDES
permits
Sampling
Sampling Bowl Creek
Sampling San Juan River
Macroinvertebrate
sampling at Bowl
Creek
Ambient water quality
sampling at Chaco River
Assessment Reports•Upper San Juan River
Watershed
• 36.778 miles of Gallegos
Wash
• Designated use support:
Category 5b
•Rio San Jose Watershed
• 1.0 mile of Blue Water
Creek
• Designated use support:
Category 5b
401 Certification
Certify all Federal discharge permits
•404 – dredge and fill
•402 – point source pollution
•Receive
approximately 50-100
applications a year.
•Not all agencies or
companies apply
•New WOTUS definition
•New 401 rule
•Compliance
• Issue NOVs
Roads Impact Water Quality?
NPDES Program
•Draft discharge
permits & fact sheets
•Conduct inspections
• Maintian federal
credentials
•Monitor DMRs
•Powerplants, mines,
wastewater
facilities, pipelines,
construction sites
CWA Section 402
• Section 402 is administered by the U.S. EPA
• Application submitted
• 2 major permits• APS
• Shiprock WWTF
• 12 minor permits
• Stormwater• CGP
• MSGP
• CAFO
• PGP
Common NPDES Pollutants
•Nutrients
•Pathogens
•Sediments
•Oil & Grease
•Metals
•Heat
319 Program
• Vandalism of BMP structures and fences
•Climate change - extreme weather - high flows
resulting in failures of bmps or droughts with no
precipitation;
• Partnership - long term commitments from agencies
or programs or tribal government or land users
withdrawn; conflicts arises; maintenance of bmps
are not viewed as investment; lack of maintenance;
•Material cost - prices rising for metal material i.e.
Fence posts or fences;
• 319 Grants - Awards amount reduced; Indian Tribes compete for
small pot of monies set for tribes nationwide; grant award to tribe is
expected to have lifespan of five years; pot of monies for Indian
Tribes determined by congressional allocation;
• State 319 Programs get large amount of monies. Grants are only for
wetlands and riparian areas. More work is expected for grants awarded to tribe for small awards.
• Protection of water quality and watershed by general public on
the reservation is there but lack of interest or ignorance outweighs
concerns. i.e. land board member and BIA worker advocating
against water quality enhancement projects. Lack of ownership in
water.
• Tribal Government - Programs doing their own water quality
projects; no partnership; do not involve NNEPA Water Quality Program; Ignorant of WQS, regulations, laws, etc.,
Common NPS /Pollutants
• Nutrients: manure, septic systems, fertilizers,
• Pathogens: bacteria from livestock, pet, wildlife, and human waste
• Sediments: dirt roads, over-grazing, improper culvert installation
improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, eroding
streambanks
• Oil, grease and toxic chemicals from illegal dumping
• Salt from irrigation practices & acid drainage from abandoned mines
Challenges• Small staff to cover large
jurisdiction
• Funding – fully grant funded
from US EPA. Size of a state
but are not funded like a
state
• Enforcement
• Not a priority with NN
Government
•Water Quantity
Why We Care About Water Quality
