PINE RIDGE – An official statement barring forbidden levels of uranium in drinking water from an Oglala Sioux tribal well has caused turmoil, but the supply has been capped along with any problem, a field supervisor assured the Native Sun News Today on February 7.
The statement, dated January 28, was entitled “Pine Ridge Water System has levels of uranium above the Drinking Water Standards.”
It was disseminated on letterhead from the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Water Maintenance and Conservation.
The announcement led to “turmoil” said department Field Supervisor Richard Kamerzell. “There’s been a lot of negative over that one well, but we’re not even using it,” he added.
“That well has been deactivated. It is no longer part of our system, and there’s nothing to worry about,” he said.
South Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers Spc. Tracy Lennick, Sgt. David Fuegen and Lt. Col. Lew Weber fill containers with drinkable water for residents of Sharps Corner on the Pine Ridge Reservation on March 25, 2019. Photo: Lt. Col. Anthony Deiss / U.S. Army National Guard
The well, located near O.C.S., was an old Bureau of Indian Affairs well dating to before Kamerzell began working at the department 18 years ago, he said.
The tribal water department has 21 other drinking water wells. “We have increased pumping from other wells, and we are investigating a new well,” the announcement explains.
The department stopped using the contaminated well eight months ago in June, after monitoring showed EPA maximum contaminant levels (MCL) continually violated, it said.
“Our main priority is providing safe drinking water to our people,” Kamerzell said. “Our own families drink it,” he added.
Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, the maximum allowable level of uranium radionuclides is 30 u/gl (micrograms per liter). The closed well showed an average of 31 between the first and fourth quarter of 2019, as the department did follow-up monitoring.
Given the ongoing evidence, the department pulled the pump and motor from the well on January 23, Kamerzell said.
“Our water system recently violated a drinking water standard,” the announcement said. “As our customers, you have the right to know what happened, and what you should do, and what we did (are doing) to correct this situation.
“This is not an emergency. If it had been, you would have been notified within 24 hours,” according to protocol, it said.
