“Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley tour reveals Morrow County residents’ frustration with groundwater inaction”
By Antonio Sierra | OPB | January 21, 2023
“As U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley peered underneath a sink belonging to Mike Pearson, the Morrow County local told him that the reverse osmosis filter provided by the county still wasn’t getting enough nitrates out of his drinking water to make it safe.
“I had one in, we tested it,” Pearson said. “And if I remember right, the best we could get is 12. And then when I put this new one in, it’s 26.1.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains that any nitrate concentration above 10 parts per million is unsafe to drink.”
“Oregon Health Authority slow to help thousands in northeast Oregon with polluted drinking water”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency remains ready to intervene should the state fail to ensure safe drinking water in northeast Oregon.
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | January 17, 2023
Morrow County residents meet with Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley about nitrate contamination in their water. They hold up signs showing the nitrate levels in their water. A report from the Secretary of State’s Office found Oregon agencies in charge of ensuring water quality and quantity are understaffed, underfunded and lack coordination and planning for the future, compromising the state’s water security. (Courtesy of Oregon Rural Action)
“Three years ago, eight environmental groups asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency to do something about nitrate contamination in drinking water in northeast Oregon.
In a Jan. 16, 2020 petition, they said that for more than 30 years the state had failed to stop nitrate pollution from farm fertilizers, animal manure and industrial wastewater from polluting an aquifer that thousands of people in Morrow and Umatilla counties depend on for drinking water.
“Oregon officials have effectively abandoned their responsibility to protect Oregon’s citizens,” they wrote in the 32-page document.
Today, little has changed for these residents, many of whom are low-income and Latino. Hundreds have contaminated wells with water unsafe to drink while the lead state agency assigned to fixing the issue, the Oregon Health Authority, has been slow to act. ”
“Outcry over nitrate pollution spurs changes to Eastern Oregon groundwater committee”
The committee is charged with figuring out what’s causing high levels of nitrate in the groundwater and developing recommendations for reducing them.
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.”
“Hermiston commemorates COVID deaths with Día de los Muertos”
By Antonio Sierra | OPB | November 4, 2022
“Under the fluorescent lights of the Hermiston High School common area, the Wednesday event had all the usual contrasts of the Mexican Day of the Dead.
The black clothes of mourning were contrasted by vibrant flowers and embroidery. The skull face paint of visitors was backdropped by the brightly colored papel picado hanging from the ceiling. The faded family photos and lit candles for departed loved ones on the ofrenda were accompanied by music and dancing.
The event was officially dedicated to people who died from COVID-19, a virus that hit Latinos in Umatilla County hard, especially in the early days of the pandemic.”
“Day of the Dead at Hermiston High School”
By Beau Glynn | Hermiston Herald | November 4, 2022
“A Dia de los Muertos celebration event occurred in full-swing Wednesday, Nov. 2. Local organizations involved with the Protecting Oregon Farm Workers coalition took part in the event at Hermiston High School to honor the lives lost during the coronavirus pandemic.
Community-based organizations, including Oregon Rural Action, Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Human Development Corporation set up tables at the event to provide resources to community members attending the celebration.
“Today, we’re here with a lot of CBOs (community-based organizations) and decided to put on this event to honor those who passed away due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Zaira Sanchez said.”
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“Nonprofit organizes Eastern Oregon Latinos one conversation at a time”
By Antonio Sierra | OPB | October 6, 2022
“On an early September afternoon in Boardman, the epicenter of Latino community organizing was in a small parking lot buttressed by taco trucks.
The temperature was already starting to creep toward its 104-degree high when a woman stepped up to Oregon Rural Action’s booth.
Community organizers Ana Maria Rodriguez, Rafael Romero and Zaira Sanchez quickly engaged her in Spanish, as they did with nearly every other person who stepped near their booth. It’s a familiar routine: Oregon Rural Action has planted itself in this same parking lot, the thrum of Interstate 84 in the background, once a month for the past year and a half.”
“Residents in Morrow County demand urgent aid from state for contaminated water”
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | September 16, 2022
“More than 100 Boardman residents attended a meeting Thursday evening to demand the state guarantee access to safe drinking water in Morrow County…
In both English and Spanish, residents expressed outrage over learning just this year that the state had known the groundwater was contaminated for decades and had let it get progressively worse, that they had been forced to pay for expensive filters and bottled water and that so little information had been shared publicly about the risks of consuming high levels of nitrate over long periods.”
“Eastern Oregon likely to get fraction of money requested from state for drinking water emergency”
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | September 16, 2022
“Doherty said the $882,000 now being considered will not be sufficient to ensure that all of the wells in the counties are tested and that every resident in need will have filters for safe drinking water this year.
Doherty, the Morrow County Public Health Department and Oregon Rural Action, a nonprofit focused on social justice and the environment, have conducted the bulk of the water testing. He said the health authority should have been doing that and paying for it for years. OHA is not responsible by law for water safety in private wells, but it has been responsible for coming up with a plan to help with contaminated well water in Morrow and Umatilla Counties. In 2021, it submitted a plan to do so to the federal Environmental Protection Agency after several organizations petitioned the agency to do something about the area’s water pollution. EPA is still considering whether or not to intervene in the region.”
PRESS RELEASE: Morrow Community Meeting for Safe Water
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 14, 2022
PRESS RELEASE
Morrow Community Meeting for Safe Water
County Commissioner and public health offer an update on the County’s response and with community members request state support
Boardman, Oregon --
Following the June 2022 Morrow County-declared Water Emergency, Oregon Rural Action and community members will host a Safe Rural Water Community meeting on Thursday, September 15th from 6:00 - 7:00 pm at Sam Boardman Elementary School located at 301 Wilson Lane in Boardman. Doors open at 5:30 pm.
County Commissioner Jim Doherty and the county’s public health department will provide updated information on the county’s response to access safe water and filtration systems for people whose wells have tested high for nitrates. Debbie Radie of the Boardman Business Coalition will speak to their efforts and an overall commitment to ensuring safe drinking water for area residents. U.S. Senator Merkley will offer a message on the federal response and staff will represent U.S. Senator Wyden at the event.
Most state legislative representatives were unavailable as were state agency officials from the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality with regulatory authority to protect Oregon’s groundwater and ensure safe drinking water.
Community members will offer testimonies, and with Morrow County, request the state’s support to develop a coordinated response, in compliance with recent Environmental Protection Agency’s criteria to address the immediate public health risks in the Lower Umatilla Basin, that identifies each resident with a drinking water well and offers alternative drinking water at no cost to residents whose drinking water sample exceeds the federal maximum contaminant level of 10 mg/L.
Oregon Rural Action (ORA) is a culturally diverse community-led grassroots organization in Eastern Oregon working to promote social justice, agricultural and economic sustainability, and the stewardship of the region’s land, air, and water. Through community organizing, public conversations, and policy advocacy, ORA is building a rural movement for the well-being of all people and our environment.
“Beleaguered Oregon water pollution committee gains new leadership amid scrutiny”
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | August 18, 2022
“Mitch Wolgamott, former regional administrator for DEQ’s east Oregon office, agreed.
“There’s no way that the problem can be solved without some changes to irrigated agriculture,” said Wolgamott, a former committee member.
…
Wolgamott agreed that farmers need to reduce their nitrate pollution.
“They don’t appear to be willing to do it voluntarily, so I don’t know any alternative than regulation,” Wolgamott said.
Wolgamott was dismayed that the new leaders want more research rather than recommending immediate actions. Other new leaders also have called for more studies even though there’s been plenty of research on nitrate pollution in the region from DEQ and OSU, Wolgamott said.
“I hope they are serious about doing something this time,” he said. “They certainly were not willing to do so when I was there.”