Radioactive water at Navajo

Note by Hunter Bear:

For background on the continuing uranium tragedies at Navajo Nation and
environs, see several things I've written -- including my September 1957
article in The American Socialist and another of mine in the July 22 1980
issue of Labor Notes. Also included in this compendium is my relatively
recent, related piece on the now former [corrupt] tribal chairman, Peter
MacDonald.  http://www.hunterbear.org/a_native_rights_sampling.htm

In the Spring, 1980, increasingly disturbed about widespread stomach
ailments, some of them increasingly serious, at Navajo Community College
[Dine' College], we looked into the possibilities of old uranium mines in
the Lukachukai Mountains [Chuska Range] immediately above the College -- and
the source of our water supplies.  We found several old, abandoned mines
with tailings spill-offs -- pointing directly into our water sources.
Immediately, we asked the Feds for a water check but got only a laconic
white-wash.  I then sent water samples to a very reputable lab in the
East -- which gave us an extremely grim assessment. We made and posted
hundreds of copies of that report. This led to official promises of remedial
action and some belated efforts.  In the meantime, water filter use at NCC
skyrocketed.

Navajo and Laguna loss of life has been extremely heavy for decades --
stemming from uranium mining, milling and refining.  All of that is
continuing along with great livestock loss and massive environmental damage.

While all of this has been going on, people in Nevada, extreme Northern
Arizona, Central/Southern Utah, and even into parts of Idaho and Wyoming
continue to die as a result of  nuclear testing and radioactive fall-out at
and from Desert Rock, Nevada in the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s.

Hunter [Hunter Bear][John R Salter, Jr]

Church Rock wells are radioactive  2/26/04
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau
http://gallupindependent.com/022604churchrockwells.html

FORT DEFIANCE â?" Two unregulated wells out of 12 tested in the Church Rock
area in October, exceed safe drinking water standards for radioactive
contaminants, while a third exceeds safe levels for arsenic, according to
Gerald Brown, project administrator for the Church Rock Uranium Monitoring
Project.

Tuesday evening, chapter residents were presented information from the
well-sampling project, an ongoing radon monitoring program, and an upcoming,
year-long air particulate monitoring project.

Brown said field reconnaissance for the water sampling was conducted in July
and August 2003, with samples actually collected in August and October. The
sampling program was a joint effort of a water assessment team made up of
Church Rock Chapter officials and representatives from Navajo Nation Water
Resources, Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, New Mexico
Environmental Department, Southwest Research and Information Center, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency in Las Vegas, and the University of New
Mexico.

"Unregulated water resources was their target," Brown said. "Water in these
wells are not regulated, tested, or treated to be safe for human
consumption. It's called livestock-only wells. Those are windmills,
developed springs, and drilled wells." The Navajo Nation discourages human
consumption from livestock wells.

"The wells were evaluated for human, domestic, and livestock use. Some of
the wells were near abandoned mines," Brown said. In all, 13 wells were
chosen but at the time of sampling, one well was dry.

During Tuesday night's meeting, Perry Charley of Din College's Uranium
Education Program in Shiprock, translated information presented by Chris
Shuey of Southwest Research.

"Eight wells in the Church Rock Chapter area were sampled," Brown said,
along with two in Coyote Canyon Chapter, two in Pinedale Chapter, and one in
Standing Rock Chapter. The results were classified into three separate
categories: good water, hard/salty water, and bad water.

Only one well out of the total 12 wet wells sampled made it into the "good"
category. "Well 16T-559, a windmill located in southern Church Rock Chapter
on a hill near a mine, met all primary and secondary drinking water
standards except secondary standards for pH. The water may have a slight
alkaline taste, (but) it does not pose any health hazards to people," Brown
said.

Even so, there are other matters that must be taken into consideration. "We
did not test for bacteria solutions, oils and gas. This well is located
south of Sundance in the old mining area. Even though it's considered good
drinking water, the water tank itself does not have a cover. And yesterday,
while we were out there we saw some disposed diapers. So even though this is
considered 'good' water,"he said, it doesn't take into account "beer cans,
bottles, dirty clothes, old clothes, rocks, brush whatever anybody throws in
there."

The second category was hard/salty water. "These waters meet primary and
secondary drinking water standards but exceed several secondary standards.
Secondary meaning smell, taste, and discoloration. The water will have an
unpleasant taste to people and may smell bad, but is not unhealthy. The
water is suitable for livestock but it is moderately alkaline and cows and
sheep may not like the water from this well," Brown said.

There were eight wells which fell into the hard/salty water category. "These
are spread out all over," he said and are located in such areas as the
arroyo south of the Kerr-McGee mine, about a half-mile north of the Church
Rock Chapter, one in the Hard Ground, and two in the Superman Canyon Road
area.

Four wells fell into the category of "bad water," meaning water which
approaches or exceeds drinking water standards for primary contaminants.

"The Lime Ridge water well, right across the King's Ranch, exceeded uranium
standards. Well 16T-606 exceeds the radium standards and Well 14K-586
exceeds the arsenic standards," Brown said. There also are secondary
contaminants such as total dissolved solids, calcium, fluoride, iron and
phosphate.

This water is primarily used for livestock, according to Brown.

"As of today, we know that nobody drinks this water. The recommendation was
not to have even livestock use that. A lot of what we were looking at was:
Water that is good for people; water that is good for people and livestock;
water that is not good for people but good for livestock; and then the 'bad
water' is for cattle and people NOT to use at all," he said.

Chapter officials will release the actual data at a later date, as that
information is still being compiled.

"One of the things Navajo Nation is stressing is not to utilize unregulated
water resources," Brown said. Officials are working with Navajo Tribal
Utility Authority to get all residents served by NTUA. "I'm not sure how
many people are being served in this area, but a lot of these areas are on
NTUA's water resource," he said.

Brown and John Plummer of Navajo Nation EPA are continuing to test homes in
the Church Rock area for radon. "We're about 50 percent completed with our
radon program testing. Our goal is to test 175 homes," Brown said. Results
from the radon testing could be available in April. Results of a survey for
gamma radiation conducted in October are still coming in and also are not
expected to be available until late March or early April, he said.

The Church Rock Chapter also is working with Annabelle Allison of the Tribal
Air Monitoring Support Center to set up air monitoring stations."We have two
air monitors that came from the Las Vegas EPA center. One is going to be set
up on Water Pond Road and the second is going to be set up on Pipeline
Road," Brown said.

A site reconnaissance to determine the locations for installation was
conducted on Tuesday. The monitors run off electricity, so the chapter will
be working with residents and Continental Divide Electric Co. to power the
monitors.

Anyone interested in assisting with the air monitoring is encouraged to
contact the chapter. The monitors are tentatively set to be installed in
mid-March, and a training date will be scheduled, Brown said. "They go out
once a week and change the filters," which then will be sent to Las Vegas
for analysis. Results will be given to the chapter on a monthly basis once
monitoring gets under way.

Brown said students from Wingate High School and a teacher at Gallup Junior
High have expressed interest in the monitoring program. By working with
students, he said, it would give them hands-on laboratory experience and
insights into particulate monitoring, which might lead to interest in a
career with EPA, he said. "You never know."




HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR]
www.hunterbear.org

When you cut to the bone  and cut away the college degrees, academic and
other titles, published books and articles, ours is essentially a working
class and Indian family.  We consistently join unions  -- and we always
support them with the greatest vigor.


It's critical to always keep fighting -- and to always remember that, if one
lives with grace, he/she should be prepared to die with grace.




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