The Tuba City Landfill

The Tuba City Landfill Site is a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Landfill facility that received refuse from the 1940's until 1997. The Landfill was an “open dump” – without an on-site operator and without any controls on who dumped there or what they dumped. The Landfill received domestic waste from the Tuba City and Moenkopi communities, and unknown waste from the BIA and Indian Health Services (IHS).  Some refuse may have been received from the Tuba City Uranium Mine Tailing Remediation Act (UMTRA) Site.

The un-lined, un-regulated dumpsite lies directly on top of the exposed N-Aquifer; the Landfill’s disposal cells were constructed by excavating into fine, very porous (absorbent) sandy soil down to the bare Navajo sandstone bedrock.

Since 1999, the Tribe has had evidence of the presence of uranium, coliform bacteria, radium, vanadium, gross alpha, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, selenium and total dissolved solids in excess of the Safe Drinking Water Act’s maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) and EPA health advisories in the shallow groundwater under the Landfill. Data from a study instituted in 2001 shows, among other contaminants, the presence of uranium in the groundwater at nine-times EPA’s proposed standards.

The contaminated groundwater is located directly above the unconfined area of the N-Aquifer from which Tuba City and the Hopi Villages at Moenkopi withdraw drinking water, and no confining layer isolates the groundwater contaminated by the Landfill from the N-Aquifer. Contaminates that leach out from the waste can move through the fractures (cracks) of the sandstone and further contaminate the Tribe’s sole water resource. The distance from the Landfill to the Moenkopi wells is ½ mile, in the direction of the groundwater flow.

The Villages of Moenkopi need their lands and water restored to protect the current and future use of the N-Aquifer’s waters, which includes: drinking water for residential, school and business facilities, cultural and religious activities, and current and planned economic development.  Daily religious and cultural activities include the use of water for irrigation of agricultural fields and for the herbs picked and used in the preparation of Hopi foods for daily food and ceremonies. Based on the available evidence, the Hopi Tribe has determined remediation through the placement of a permanent cap on the Landfill will not effectively address the groundwater contamination currently present, address the future risk of contamination, or otherwise effectively remediate the Site.

The Hopi Tribe has worked with the Navajo Tribe, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare cost estimates for the “clean closure” of the Landfill Site and is now seeking the funding necessary to ensure the cleanup of the Tribe’s lands and water. For environmental, economic, and cultural reasons, all parties support a clean closure of the Tuba City landfill to be completed as quickly as possible to eliminate any potential threat of contaminated groundwater adversely affecting the health, economy, or cultural imperatives of the Hopi Tribe.