ELEMENTAL CONTAMINATION OF NAVAJO UNREGULATED WATER SOURCES

The goal of this project is to determine health risks and community impacts from exposure to environmental toxicants through contamination of water in Navajo communities. During the Cold War the Navajo Reservation produced the largest supply of both raw and processed uranium ore purposed for nuclear munitions. Although uranium mining ended in the 1980s, the effects of mining left a legacy on the Navajo people and the landscape. Increasingly research is demonstrating that other elemental contamination outside of the primary ore mined can result from mining activities. These contaminants can leach into ground and surface water systems and have detrimental health effects on a population. This study seeks to identify and quantify possible elemental contaminants that may exist in unregulated water systems and to characterize water quality across the Navajo Nation. The study utilizes a community-engaged research model to explore exposure pathways and identify culturally applicable and community constructed models for mitigation of the identified toxicants on Navajo communities. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was utilized to detect contaminants within samples collected from unregulated water supplies. Because all samples are collected from water sites labeled as “unregulated,” there is no legal obligation to regularly monitor these sites or warn communities of any dangers that may exist due to contamination. The research demonstrated that a large proportion of the sites sampled exceeded the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended maximum contamination level in one or more of the elements analyzed. Additionally, the research has demonstrated that these other elemental contaminants are more ubiquitous than uranium, and potentially pose a larger threat. All information gathered from this study has been shared with communities affected to educate and warn them of the dangers associated with these water sites.