Oregon Rural Action

“Outcry over nitrate pollution spurs changes to Eastern Oregon groundwater committee”

November 4, 2022 Oregon Rural Action

By Monica Samayoa | OPB | November 4, 2022

The committee is charged with figuring out what’s causing high levels of nitrate in the groundwater and developing recommendations for reducing them. Groundwater is the primary drinking water source for the two counties, and it is being polluted by a variety of sources, including irrigated agriculture, food processing wastewater, animal feeding operations like dairies and feedlots, sewage from septic tank systems and the U.S. Army Umatilla Chemical Depot’s bomb washout lagoons. The committee reforms come after more than three decades of unsuccessful pollution reduction efforts. Nitrate contamination in the area’s groundwater has actually gotten worse since the committee was formed in 1990.

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