The Navajo Nation aims to become the first tribe authorized to issue federal water permits, a prospect that could lead to stricter pollution limits and help expand access to water infrastructure.
The Navajo Environmental Protection Agency is seeking authority from EPA to oversee and enforce pollution requirements for sewage plants, mines, power plants and other facilities under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
If EPA approves the request, it could help the tribe address water infrastructure challenges across the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation and protect rivers and streams left vulnerable by a Supreme Court ruling last year, tribe officials said.
“These basic infrastructure things, like how we manage groundwater resources for drinking water, how we provide oversight of our utility company … that’s going to be completely under our control now,” said Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency.
