A bill that passed the Nevada Senate on Tuesday could acknowledge that sovereign tribal nations are on the same level as municipalities in matters of environmental notice. The proposed law, backed by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, came about in response to an incident that allowed pollution to flow into the lake from upstream for more than a year and a half.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe is a sovereign nation, but tribal leaders say they feel other municipalities sometimes forget that. Case in point: In 2023, the tribe was left in the dark as millions of gallons of sewage spilled into the Truckee River, making its way downstream to Pyramid Lake.

Senate Bill 276, currently being considered in the legislature, proposes to address future water pollution notifications. In doing so, it acknowledges tribal sovereignty.

The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe didn’t learn of the 2023 incident until a local TV station reported it. According to News 4 in Sparks, Nevada, construction crews accidentally mixed up sewage and storm drain lines while building the Atrium Apartments. The mistake sent the equivalent of nearly four Olympic swimming pools of sewage into the Truckee River.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Chairman Steven Wadsworth says the city of Sparks never notified the tribe.

“How do you get away with doing that? Fixing the problem and then still not notifying those down river that there was a problem, there was sewage spilt? As a tribe, it’s like a slap in the face.”

Sewage lines carry more than just human waste. Chemicals, oils, cleaning products and potentially harmful pathogens may also have made their way to the lake over more than a year.

“You need to inform those that could be affected. You need to have that government-to-government relationship. If your city inspectors didn’t do it correctly and they report it to their higher ups, and they of course keep reporting it on up the chain. We’re not talking about going up the chain, what about those that are on the same level as you are. And that’s the thing, when it came to the same level, you did not report to the tribe.” 

The proposed law would require any municipality or water authority that knows of an unauthorized spill into state waters to notify the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. The division would then notify potentially impacted tribes or local governments.

No law requiring a municipality to inform a tribe of a spill currently exists. Previously, the city’s policy left the notification responsibility to the property owner, according to the city of Sparks.

The city has since adjusted its policy.

For the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, the lake’s health is tantamount to their health.

“The lake and the river is everything to the tribe. That’s because our namesake, Cui-ui-Tuccutta, which translates to fish eater, that is our namesake. That’s what we are known as, here at Pyramid Lake. That is just the core of our being, you know.”

In an emailed response, the City of Sparks said the “oversight was simply a regrettable human error.”