Director gives overview of process, costs

Shortly after Fran Palochak was elected as District 4 councilor in April, she went on a tour of Gallup’s wastewater treatment plant.

Little did she know at the time, as she toured the facility, Vince Tovar, director of Gallup Water and Sanitation Department, felt a tinge of shame about the pungent odor coming from the plant that has haunted the westside for countless years.

“When you visited us, I have to admit that it was embarrassing,” he said, during the City Council meeting Aug. 11.

But things are better, for now.

Tovar and management company Severn Trent, have engaged in multiple projects to help reduce and eliminate the odor, but it’s not cheap. He told councilors that he has cleared the air, so to speak, and crews have begun to process the culprit – odor-causing sludge for transfer that will cost an estimated $257,500.

He used some technical terms to convey how workers process the stinky sludge from holding tanks. Tovar said it has to be the right biological makeup of bacterias and water to process it into a material that can be disposed of at the Thoreau transfer station, so it won’t wreck chemical havoc to the landfill.

Since it’s a complex procedure, Tovar explained to the council that it’s not financially sustainable. The estimated cost of sludge removal has a price tag of $320,000 for fiscal year 2015-16, City Attorney George Kozeliski said.

Tovar said that workers create a cake like substance, which comprises of 20-25 percent sludge and water mixture. Given the high water content, it’s costly to transport the heavy mixture to the landfill.

He’s calling on the private sector to “propose sustainable sludge management options,” as stated in his slideshow presentation he gave councilors. In order to explore private sector offerings, city purchasing will need to send out a Request for Proposals to companies that offer this type of disposal service.

The challenge is to also reduce the build up of sludge through “Proposed Digester Aeration Modifications.” These modifications, Tovar’s slideshow presentation stated, “Will ‘Reduce’ volatile portion of sludge and lower landfill transport costs.”

But it’s not just the wastewater treatment plant that’s the cause of the odor.

During a phone interview Aug. 13, Tovar said that crews are in the process of repairing aged and eroded sewer lines by installing PVC piping and new sewer lining to help cut down on the odor that’s being perpetuated by a perfect brew of methane and hydrogen sulfate.

It’s sulfuric acid, however, that Tovar said is causing the sewer to erode in areas.

The updates and maintenance are expensive, and it’s costing the city about $500,000 per year, Tovar said.

Another longterm goal that will cut down expenses, he said, is to reduce the chemicals poured into the waste so healthy bacterias can do their job alone in breaking down the sewage.

“Everything is about the odor,” he said. “I am hoping we can reduce or eliminate the chemical input into the system in two to three years.”

The city is also in the early planning stages of moving the treatment plant five miles west of its current location. It would likely involve an agreement with the Navajo Nation and be larger in scope compared to the current plant.

It’s something that brought a smile to Palochak’s face during the council meeting, and a sentiment she can pass onto her constituents.

“We’ve done our time,” she said. “It’s time to move it.”

Cultural ties only grow stronger. The 94th Annual Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial celebrates the culture of indigenous groups – both local and afar – with families and friends sharing and showcasing their traditional attire, dances and customs during parades, dances and/or powwows.

The photos on this page were taken during the Ceremonial parade in downtown Gallup Aug. 8.

As for the business of the Ceremonial, the Gallup City Council waived the nearly $61,000 in fees the Ceremonial racked up for usage of Red Rock Park Aug. 5-9, and councilors vowed to get even more involved in supporting the event in the years to come when they met for their regular meeting Aug. 11.

Executive Director Hilda Bowman didn’t have the financial report ready to present to the council to show how the five day event faired, but she thanked city workers and the council for their support. She noted that the INFR tour rodeo component of the five-day Ceremonial Rodeo attracted about 600 contestants from places such as Montana, South Dakota and Colorado.

“It was a great rodeo. It was a great Ceremonial,” she said.

Kahlaya Rose McKinney (Dine, Paiute, Muskogee Creek) of Shiprock, NM was crowned Ceremonial Queen for 2015-2016.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye announced that he intends to take legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the massive release of mine waste into the Animas River near Silverton, Colorado.

Begaye made this announcement on Aug. 8 at the Shiprock Chapter House, which was packed to capacity with concerned community members living along the San Juan River.

“They are not going to get away with this,” he said of the destructive impact to natural habitats and ecosystems that traditional Navajo culture relies on.

He said the sludge has migrated into the San Juan River and is wending through the Navajo Nation. The plume is expected to reach Lake Powell by Wednesday.

“The EPA was right in the middle of the disaster and we intend to make sure the Navajo Nation recovers every dollar it spends cleaning up this mess and every dollar it loses as a result of injuries to our precious Navajo natural resources,” he said.

“I have instructed Navajo Nation Department of Justice to take immediate action against the EPA to the fullest extent of the law to protect Navajo families and resources,” he added.

“The EPA also needs to fund an independent lab onsite for real time monitoring of chemicals that may migrate into our irrigation or public water system,” Begaye said.

Stories of struggle and survival

The chapter members were very appreciative that Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez met with them in this moment of crisis as the plume of contamination approached their community.

The community shared their stories of struggle and survival along the river and underscored just how important farming and ranching is to their way of life and the economy of the region.

Shiprock is one of the largest farming communities on the Nation and it relies heavily upon irrigation from the San Juan to supply its many farms with water.

Navajo EPA will be conducting independent tests on the water and sediment quality and the Nation will utilize the data that is gathered for their own investigation on the contamination. The plume is estimated to be traveling at four miles per hour.

Harlan Cleveland of Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management said the contaminated water plume reached Farmington at 8:10 a.m. on Aug. 8 and joined the San Juan River.

The plume is more than 80 miles long.

Several communities have stopped pumping water from the river and San Juan County has issued an emergency declaration and closed the river until further notice.

Rex Koontz, deputy general manager of Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, stated in a press release that NTUA water systems from Farmington to Beclabito are “fed from a different system isolated from the San Juan River.”

The Navajo Nation irrigation systems ceased pulling water from the river earlier this week.

San Juan River is their Lifeline

President Begaye said the U.S. EPA must provide affected tribal members water for drinking, irrigation, and livestock. In addition, hay and feed will also be needed for livestock.

“The San Juan River is their lifeline. We want full disclosure on what chemicals were released into the river. We understand cleanup will take decades. We demand cleanup of this water and the sediments of our affected rivers immediately,” Begaye said.

Navajo farmers pumped water for their cattle, sheep and horses. Others fished the river and explored it recreationally.

“We’re not talking about a small population or area like Farmington. We have Navajo families affected from Upper Fruitland all the way to Lake Powell,” he said.

The Navajo Nation is larger than 10 U.S. states and is the size of West Virginia. The San Juan River courses through much of the northern region of the Nation and feeds into the Colorado River, which also traverses the vast tribal territory.

Childhood memories of contamination

During his childhood, Begaye lived along the banks of the San Juan River. One year, he remembered the fish were dying and floating to the surface. He jumped into the river with others to investigate further.

“The river smelled for weeks. Fish were dying along the riverbank. No one ever told us what happened, how the fish died or if it would impact our health years later. To this day, nobody told us. That will not happen this time,” he said.

For a campus comprised of mostly Native American students, there are only but a few choices of classes that delve into North American Indian history and heritage. And now those classes have been scrubbed from the University of New Mexico-Gallup’s fall line up.

“Native American History & Culture of North America” and “The Pueblo People” were both canceled in July.

These upper division classes were substituted with other classes to meet the necessary criteria towards a Bachelor’s Degree.

Ken Van Brott, operations manager for UNM-G’s Bachelor and Graduate Programs, said it wasn’t the Gallup branch’s choice to cancel the classes.

“The Native American classes were canceled directly from the main campus in Albuquerque, as they are pulling back resources in order to create a ‘Native American Bachelors Degree’ program,” he said.

This program change will take effect in about a year, Van Brott said, and would be streamed from the main campus in Albuquerque.

“This is a big improvement, we haven’t seen many Native American classes for awhile,” Van Brott said. “It’s going from really a few scattered courses to a full Native American program.”

The cut was bad news for UNM-G adjunct instructor Martin Link, who was slated to teach, “The Pueblo People.”

“I felt very sad, and very frustrated, it was done without any appeal or alternative suggestions,” he said. “Saddest thing was, no attempt was made to contact myself from the UNM administration.”

He pointed out that 90 percent of the students at UNM-Gallup branch are Native Americans.

“We were very aware and concerned that they were so many Native American students, getting there western knowledge here,” he said. “Students need to be in a position, to have a face-to-face relationship, question to question, have more contact, besides the classroom. My classes in Navajo are gone, its not offered at the main campus.”

With online classes, students can sit at home and gather information, but Link feels it’s not a step in the right direction.

“It”s too impersonal, its devoted to technology, there is no chance for special projects, no incentive to learn more,” he said. “Its becoming a mechanized program. It’s a shame when education becomes what do you get for your dollar.”

Link said he’s not in teaching for the money, but for the love of education.

“The real losers are the students,” he said. “I lost that part to pass the information onto the students.”

UNM student, Geneva Wilson, who is pursuing her Human Services degree, said, “Online classes are too impersonal, a lot of people say its convenient with busy lives, but you have no communication with the teacher. You miss out on the whole classroom atmosphere, the teaching-student interaction.”

Has online courses helped other area schools?

Navajo Technical University E Learning Director Jennifer Stanley said online classes take discipline versus face to face.

“I provide orientation for students to learn about online as well as teachers; how to teach online, how to interact with teachers and peers, how to get assignments,” she said. “I tell students they have to log on twice a day to keep up with the class.”

With online classes, she explained, students find it easier to attend college – especially those who do not have the means to travel far from home due to transportation challenges or other issues.

“We find most students aren’t able to travel to class, some don’t have gas, nor the transportation,” Stanley said. “So, online classes are beneficial, since we have more students traveling from afar, this is more cost effective.”

UNM-G Executive Director Dr. Christopher Dyer’s office deferred comment to the UNM main campus in Albuquerque. Calls to the main campus were not returned.