NTUA making plans to take over water supply for Sanders community

Posted by Arlyssa Becenti | Feb 4, 2016 | News |

NAHATA DZIIL

It will take a few more months, but residents of Park Estates in Sanders will finally be able to drink, cook and shower with safer and uncontaminated water courtesy of Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

During a Jan. 28 Sanders Park Estates Homeowner Association meeting, NTUA officials updated residents on plans to take over water services after the estates’ current water provider Arizona Windsong Water Company, agreed to relinquish power to the Navajo enterprise.

In July, tests made on 144 well sites in Sanders found that eight of those wells contained concentrations of uranium. This uranium exposure prompted the warning to residents to no longer use these wells. It was an uphill battle for residents and NTUA to finally get Windsong to hand over their power.

“Windsong has, in writing, relinquished their right to serve,” said Rayni Nelson, assistant manger for NTUA.

But, even if the water company did vacate its powers, the company will still be supplying the area with water until the new operators are ready to take over. Within the next six months or so, the process of establishing NTUA services to the homes will be a tedious, but much needed task, starting with NTUA’s negotiating with Windsong for operation of the piping and water system that is already placed.

Since there are no known maps indicating where the water pipes lie throughout Sanders, NTUA will be walking through the area and Park Estates neighborhood to locate the pipes themselves.

“We will make a connection from our Newland connection to the existing infrastructure to Park Estates, and we will turn off the ground water well that you are receiving now,” said Thomas Bayles, NTUA project manager for water operation. “We have some work to do. It’s not going to happen overnight.”