NTUA to improve wastewater treatment in proposed settlement with US EPA

WINDOW ROCK – Residents in the Chinle, Tuba City, and Kayenta areas will receive cleaner, healthier water under a new agreement announced on Jan. 10 between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, two days after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against them.

NTUA has agreed to a settlement with the EPA to upgrade wastewater treatment at three Arizona facilities serving more than 20,000 residents.

The agency alleges that NTUA has repeatedly violated wastewater treatment permits, releasing harmful pollutants and failing to properly maintain facilities despite at least two prior agreements to improve.

Agency inspections and NTUA reports revealed violations of Clean Water Act permits with untreated wastewater discharges and inadequate sewer system maintenance at three of NTUA’s wastewater treatment facilities. A civil complaint filed on Jan. 8 by the U.S. DOJ claims that NTUA has repeatedly violated multiple conditions and limitations of the 2012, 2016, 2018, and 2022 permits.

The EPA sued NTUA for polluting the environment. The agency suggests NTUA broke the rules set by its permits for controlling waste from its water treatment plants. These permits, called “NPDES permits,” are issued by the U.S. EPA under the Clean Water Act. Each permit requires NTUA to properly operate and maintain all facilities and systems of wastewater treatment to maintain compliance with the permit.

NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits regulate discharges of pollutants from factories, farms, and other facilities into U.S waters, protecting public health and the environment.

The lawsuit targets three wastewater treatment facilities in Arizona. The Chinle facility serves 4,500 people and handles 0.45 million gallons of wastewater daily, Kayenta serves 3,600 people with 0.88 million gallons daily capacity, and Tuba City accommodates 10,000 people with a daily capacity of 1.0 million gallons. These facilities treat domestic sewage from homes, schools, and businesses.
The Kayenta wastewater treatment plant primarily serves the town of Kayenta itself. In contrast, the Chinle plant serves the Chinle and Piñon communities, and the Tuba City plant serves the communities of Tuba City, Shonto, and Tonalea-Red Lake.

The U.S. EPA claims NTUA hasn’t been treating its wastewater properly, has repeatedly exceeded permitted limits in releasing wastewater, and hasn’t maintained its sewer systems, leading to sewage spills. Since December 2018, NTUA’s wastewater treatment facilities have violated their NPDES permits over 650 times, based on their data.

The most egregious of the numerous allegations is item 47, alleging that the NTUA’s sewage systems spewed untreated waste from its facilities onto open ground at least 130 times, exposing communities to serious health risks.

These frequent overflows, caused by inadequate maintenance, highlight the NTUA’s failure to comply with permit regulations, endangering public health, particularly for vulnerable populations like children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, untreated sewage carries viruses, parasites, and other pathogens that can cause various illnesses, from mild discomfort to life-threatening diseases.

This pattern of inadequate maintenance demonstrates a critical failure to protect public health and adhere to environmental regulations, according to the EPA and the Justice Department.

Despite prior agreements in 2014 and 2016 requiring NTUA to clean up and comply with environmental regulations at its wastewater facilities, NTUA has consistently failed to fulfill the mandated improvements, leaving the facilities in violation of Navajo tribal and federal standards, according to the complaint.

In 2017, the EPA found that the Chinle wastewater treatment facility had been unauthorizedly converted from a three-cell to a single-cell system, dramatically reducing its treatment capacity, according to item 44 in the complaint. Despite follow-up findings in 2018, NTUA kept running the facility with just one cell. This ongoing deviation from the permitted design, coupled with inadequate adjustments to operation and maintenance, has contributed to the facility’s continued violation of effluent limits. The single-cell system remains in operation today, highlighting NTUA’s persistent failure to comply with permit conditions at the Chinle facility.

Inspections at the Kayenta wastewater facility revealed years of inadequate maintenance. Item 45 describes how a broken baffle hampered proper treatment, leaking gate valves exposed sensitive materials to wastewater, and torn cell liners compromised the entire system. Despite repeated findings, the faulty equipment remains unrepaired, hindering the facility’s compliance with its permit regulations and allowing sewage to leak into the ground.

Inspections at the Tuba City facility exposed serious maintenance issues, according to item 46. A gaping hole in the effluent pipe, unauthorizedly created for water sampling, poses a public health risk due to potential exposure to untreated wastewater. Despite repair requests, the hole has remained open. Additionally, the influent flume’s faulty design compromised flow monitoring accuracy.
As of today, the leaky pipe and flawed flume remain unaddressed, hindering the facility’s ability to meet permit requirements.

To address these issues, the EPA and NTUA have developed a partial consent decree that calls for short-term improvements to existing plants and the construction of new plants, including relocating the Tuba City facility to mitigate erosion risks, enhanced operation and maintenance practices, sewer system repairs, and public engagement on proposed plans.

According to David M. Uhlmann, U.S. EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, NTUA
unlawfully discharged untreated sewage from three of its wastewater facilities.

NTUA officials admitted in a statement released Friday that their wastewater treatment facilities haven’t always met Clean Water Act standards, exceeding discharge limits at times.

According to the EPA, the solution is a $100 million plan with short-term and long-term improvements, including upgraded treatment processes, better employee training and oversight, increased maintenance and repair, automated monitoring, and work order systems.

“The settlement negotiations that led to the (partial consent decree) were conducted in a professional, amicable, and respectful manner,” said NTUA General Manager Walter Haase. “The end result is an incredibly comprehensive and detailed agreement that will ultimately benefit the Navajo people and the communities that we serve the environment, and NTUA itself.”

NTUA received a $68.9 million federal grant and is seeking additional funding from grants, loans, and other sources to cover the complete cost of the overhaul. If other funding falls short, NTUA suggests it might have to raise customer wastewater rates.

NTUA primarily relies on federal grants, including those from the EPA, Indian Health Service, and Department of Agriculture, and recent infrastructure bills like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan Act, to fund its wastewater treatment programs. These programs are expected to cover the $100 million projected costs of repair, according to the EPA. However, NTUA claims the cost of repairs and upgrades will be $205 million. It faces a funding gap of $136.6 million despite already securing $68.9 million in federal grants. To bridge this gap, NTUA stated it would need grants to fund short- and long-term improvements across its facilities.

Haase assured that NTUA is not seeking court approval of the partial consent decree. “I already instructed my staff months ago … to begin to implement the requirements to improve these facilities,” he said.

The proposed decree, a permanent injunction directing NTUA to take all steps necessary to come into permanent and consistent compliance with its permits, has been submitted to the U.S. District Court of Arizona and is subject to a public comment period, which has not yet been scheduled, before final court approval.

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