And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: BIGMTLIST <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:40:28 -0800 Subject: Toxic Soup Threatens Hopi Water Supply >From BIGMTLIST The following is reposted from the Wotanging Ikche newsletter. "RE: Toxic Soup Threatens Hopi Water Supply" --------- Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 19:08:42 GMT From: "AliceH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subj: "Toxic soup threatens water supply of Hopis" Newsgroup: alt.native http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/LD0562.html Sunday, 20 June 1999 Page Six--Section B Toxic soup threatens water supply of Hopis By Lukas Velush Arizona Daily Sun MOENKOPI - When Mildred Polewytewa was a young girl, she took pride in lugging 5-gallon buckets of water from Susungva Spring to her mother's kitchen. It was sacred water to be used for drinking and cooking. Now, an older Polewytewa drinks out of plastic water bottles because she fears being poisoned by water from nearby springs. Within her lifetime, she has seen the springs threatened by a closed landfill that violates safe environmental standards. A long-closed uranium mill tailings site harbors a soupy mix of radioactive contaminants mixed in with ground water below and two gas stations with leaky underground tanks. All three threats are within five miles of this 2,000-member Hopi village, located just south of Tuba City. They also are directly above the many sacred springs and shallow wells used by Hopi and Navajos who live in the Tuba City area. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the spring water is safe to drink, most residents stopped drinking it at the beginning of this year, when the severity of the upstream aquifer pollution became known. ``It's a hardship for us because the water is our life,'' said Polewytewa, the chairwoman of Lower Moencopi Village. Most residents of Moenkopi and nearby Tuba City drink water that's pumped from wells deeper than the springs and shallow wells used by the 200 traditional Hopi who live in Lower Moencopi Village. Moencopi is the smaller of two villages that make up the greater community known as Moenkopi. (The spellings are different by local custom.) EPA says it's fine to drink, but they're not drinking it,'' said Harris Polelonema, community services administrator for Lower Moencopi Village. Polelonema, who lives in Tuba City, where water is pumped into his house, said some residents of Lower Moencopi continue to drink the spring water. But most are relying on bottled water provided by the Hopi Tribe. Yet there is a sense of optimism in the village, a hope that the contaminated sites will be cleaned up soon. That's because the U.S. Department of Energy has just started what's projected to be a 20-year, $40 million effort to clean up the uranium mill site. The EPA is also taking steps to make the two gas station owners - Thriftway and Superfuels - clean up the contaminated water and soils. The future of the Tuba City landfill isn't as clear, yet the Bureau of Indian Affairs and EPA are considering making it a Superfund site, which would free up federal dollars to clean up the site. ``It's encouraging,'' said Robert Sakiestewa, governor of Upper Moenkopi Village and its 1,800 residents. ``In the meantime, we're taking emergency measures to hopefully get the Hopi Tribe to dig us another well for our livestock. (And) we're still issuing bottled water because we don't want residents to take a health threat at this time.'' While steps are being taken to clean up the mill and the gasoline contamination, the Tuba City landfill is still in limbo. No arm of the federal government has agreed to pay for the cleanup. The landfill was operated for more than 50 years by the Bureau of Indian Affairs before it was closed last year when Coconino County opened a solid waste transfer station in Tuba City. Testing done last year shows the aquifer directly below the 40-acre landfill is contaminated with unsafe levels of uranium, radium and nitrates, all deadly if consumed in such high concentrations. The aquifer below the landfill also has unsafe levels of fecal coliform, a sign of human waste. When the BIA closed down the landfill, it put a sand cap on the 40-acre site. But that does nothing to stop water from percolating through the sand and trash and into the portions of the landfill with the toxic contaminants, Morgan said. The federal government is considering several options. The Hopi Tribe prefers clean closure of the landfill, which means hauling the contaminated soil to a toxic waste site. Once the trash is removed, the contaminated water could be treated and pumped back into the aquifer. The cost could be as little as $3 million if the ground water contamination is only in localized areas rather than under the entire 40-acre landfill or beyond. If the contamination has spread, clean closure could easily cost in the tens of millions of dollars. Besides, the dump was on Navajo land until 1992, when one part of a long-standing Navajo-Hopi land dispute was resolved, giving the Hopis the land. Between 1956 and 1966 the Tuba City uranium mill was used to leach out tons of uranium ore mined all over the western part of the Navajo Reservation. That filtering process left behind high concentrations of uranium, but also sulfates and nitrates that were used to leach uranium out of the soil. Unlined ponds were used to leach out the uranium, washing high levels of the contaminants into a shallow aquifer below the site. That made for water that exceeds safe water standards 10 to 20 times over, said Randy Juhlin, a contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy working on an on-site cleanup effort that started last year. Nitrates and sulfates used to leach out the uranium are at extremely high levels. The extent of the contamination plume is unknown, but at least 1.7 billion gallons of water are thought to be contaminated. ******************************************** For Big Mountain and other activist internet resources, visit "The Activist Page" at http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html Also, for great internet tools please visit: http://www.msw.com.au/cgi-bin/msw/entry?id=1271 ******************************************** Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
