California tribe to improve drinking water safeguards following SDWA violations

(WO) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement with the Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki Indians in Glenn County, Calif., that requires the Tribe to take immediate action to address issues with its drinking water system and comply with the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

The Tribe owns and operates the Grindstone Rancheria public water system, which is designed to serve treated surface water from Stony Creek to 150 residents.

“This settlement is critical to protecting public health at the Grindstone Indian Rancheria, so people there have access to clean and safe drinking water,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “Ensuring that small community water systems like this one provide safe drinking water is a national priority for EPA, especially in communities that face environmental justice concerns.”

Under the settlement, the Tribe must:

• Develop and issue a boil water notice as needed to address certain contaminants in residents’ drinking water.
• Achieve and demonstrate compliance with federal standards to treat surface water for the Tribe’s water tanks and distribution lines.
• Provide an alternative supply of clean drinking water as needed to affected residents.
• Develop an operation and maintenance plan for the Tribal drinking water system and hire two operators to run the system.
• Meet annual reporting requirements and approve an annual budget for the drinking water system’s operation.
• Pay a $8,963 penalty.

EPA and the Tribe entered into an administrative order on consent in December 2017 for violations of the SDWA at the drinking water system, and EPA issued an emergency administrative order in June 2019 after finding the Tribe failed to adequately disinfect drinking water at the system, posing an imminent and substantial threat to human health.

The Tribe has incurred numerous violations of the SDWA, including failing to ensure adequate disinfection, exceeding standards for E. coli, failing to collect routine samples for contaminants, failing to ensure the system is operated by a qualified operator, and failing to comply with public notification requirements.

Since 2020, one of EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives has focused on ensuring delivery of safe drinking water to communities by improving compliance with the SDWA and fostering greater collaboration between EPA and states, tribes, and territories to create a more effective national program.

An additional focus of this national initiative is to increase EPA’s enforcement and compliance assurance capacity in order to work more effectively with states, tribes, and territories to meet our shared goal of addressing drinking water violations and risks to public health.

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