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. 2020 May;38(3):031003.
doi: 10.1116/1.5142283. Epub 2020 Mar 20.

Uranium and arsenic unregulated water issues on Navajo lands

Jani C Ingram  1 , Lindsey Jones  2 , Jonathan Credo  3 , Tommy Rock  4
Affiliations

Uranium and arsenic unregulated water issues on Navajo lands

Jani C Ingram et al. J Vac Sci Technol A. 2020 May.

Abstract

The geologic profile of the western United States lends itself to naturally elevated levels of arsenic and uranium in the groundwater and can be aggravated by mining. The Navajo Nation, located in the American Southwest, is the largest contiguous Native American Nation and has over a 100-year legacy of hard rock mining. Concentrations of uranium and arsenic above drinking water standards in unregulated water sources pose various human-health risks to the Navajo Nation due to the lack of public water infrastructure that exists. Although high natural background concentrations may occur in some environments, anthropogenic contamination concerns are especially troublesome for the Navajo Nation, where past uranium mining activity and natural sources affect unregulated water supplies. Community engaged research on uranium and arsenic present in unregulated water wells in the western portion of the Navajo Nation has been a focus of the Ingram laboratory since 2003. These studies have provided important information, particularly for uranium and arsenic, to the communities and the Navajo tribal leaders.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Map of the Navajo Nation with the abandoned uranium mine sites represented by “X’s” and the Navajo Agencies and Chapters outlined within the map (Ref. 8) [OSM Map On Garmin. (May 13, 2019). OpenStreetMap Wiki. Retrieved 10:12, June 12, 2019 from https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=OSM_Map_On_Garmin&oldid=1851574].
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Western Agency Navajo Nation Chapters with the location of unregulated water sources sampled and abandoned uranium mine structures [OSM Map On Garmin. (May 13, 2019). OpenStreetMap Wiki. Retrieved 14:25, July 23, 2019 from https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=OSM_Map_On_Garmin&oldid=1851574].
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Combined uranium (dark) and arsenic (light) data collected from 2003 to 2018 with outliers above 90 ppb excluded. The dashed lines indicate the maximum contaminant levels for uranium at 30 ppb (dark) and arsenic at 10 ppb (light).
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Concentrations of uranium (black) and arsenic (gray) samples collected over time from Badger Spring (a) and Tohatchi Spring (b). The reproducibility for uranium measurements is, on average, 3% and for arsenic measurement, on average, 5%.
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