U of I grad student’s research aims to help her Navajo Nation overcome health crisis

University of Idaho graduate student Malynndra Tome views her education as a powerful asset in the Navajo Nation’s quest to address a toxic drinking water supply, as well as systemic inequalities that have exacerbated a resulting health crisis.

Tome, 35, who was raised in the Navajo Nation’s Ganado chapter in northeast Arizona, is pursuing a doctorate in water resources science and management under Professor Greg Moller.

The journal “Environments” recently published a review of scientific literature by Tome and Moller documenting how abandoned mines have contributed to arsenic and uranium contamination in the tribal water supply. They also reviewed how poor access to nutritious food and health care within the Navajo Nation is compounding health problems for many residents who are already sick from drinking bad water.

According to the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, about 20-30% of Navajo Nation households lack access to a safe and reliable water supply, forcing them to haul in water for their culinary supply or to use unregulated livestock wells, which aren’t regularly tested and often exceed safe drinking-water standards.

Uranium and arsenic exposure are linked to several forms of cancer, kidney disease, hypertension, high blood pressure, negative pregnancy outcomes, neurotoxicity and many other chronic illnesses. Furthermore, University of New Mexico’s Navajo Birth Cohort Study found pregnant Navajo women had elevated uranium and arsenic levels in their urine.

An enormous problem

The Navajo Nation is enormous, spanning 27,000 square miles of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, with an average population density of just 6.2 people per square mile.

More than 1,200 mine sites, including 500 abandoned uranium mines, remain throughout the Navajo Nation.

“During the Cold War era, they were mining a lot of uranium, and the Navajo Nation became a hotspot for that,” Tome said.

Tome’s literature review cites a 2017, University of Arizona-led study in which 464 unregulated water sources — including livestock wells, springs and ponds — were tested, and 15% of samples exceeded EPA’s maximum contaminant level for arsenic, 13% exceeded standards for uranium and 3.9% exceeded standards for both chemicals.

Many residents of the Navajo Nation must travel hours to the nearest grocery store or health care facility, and malnutrition and lack of regular health screenings can make them more susceptible to health problems they experience from drinking toxins. The Navajo Nation has the nation’s highest rate of food insecurity, having just 13 grocery stores. By comparison, the city of Moscow, where the U of I campus resides, has five grocery stores within a roughly 6-square-mile area.

Growing up, Tome had to drive a half hour to get to the nearest convenience store, which sold mostly junk food, and a trip to a grocery store with produce and meat departments took a couple of hours. Furthermore, most roads within the Navajo Nation are unpaved and can be unpassable during monsoon seasons.

“I live on the Navajo Nation, but there are still communities that are 30 to 45 miles from the main highway I’ve never even been to or heard of,” Tome said.

The Navajo Nation is also home to just 12 health care facilities, delaying diagnoses and treatments.

Helping at home

Jerry McMurtry, dean of U of I’s College of Graduate Studies, recruited Tome to enroll in the doctoral program while visiting Navajo Technical University in New Mexico, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and natural resources. Tome is eager to use the skills she’s learning to benefit her people.

“I think a lot of Indigenous communities are moving away from just anybody coming onto tribal nations and doing research,” Tome said. “Now it’s up to us as Indigenous people to go to these institutions of higher education, learn what we can and then bring back skills and knowledge into our own communities and make changes.”

Tome worked for nearly a decade as an intern technician with the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, helping hydrologists map lakes, reservoirs and ponds as part of the Upper Colorado River Basin water inventory process. Relationships she made as an intern with hydrologists, water officials and Navajo Nation representatives with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should come in handy when she seeks access for her own future research.

She hopes to play a role in treating some of the Navajo Nation’s tainted groundwater. She recognizes cleaning up the mess will be a massive undertaking that will likely continue for generations to come.

“There is so much to be done there. Even in my lifetime, I don’t think a lot of these issues will be resolved,” Tome said.

Tome’s long-term goal is to work in academia and to empower other Native American youth to help work toward a solution.

“This is not just a scientific issue. This water contamination issue and all of this is a historical injustice issue — people coming onto the Navajo Nation, extracting what they need and just leaving the mess for whoever to clean up without taking responsibility,” Tome said.