Nitrate Crisis Grew Much Worse in Recent Years, DEQ Study Confirms
Oregon Rural Action
P.O. Box 1231
La Grande, OR 97850
Phone (541) 975-2411
www.oregonrural.org
Jan. 24, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kaleb Lay, Director of Policy & Research
kalebl@oregonrural.org; 541-805-8651
Nitrate Crisis Grew Much Worse in Recent Years, DEQ Study Confirms
Long-awaited Update to 2011 Nitrate Trends Analysis Published; Findings Confirm that
Pollution Crisis has Worsened as Sources of Industrial Agriculture Pollution have Grown
Boardman, OR – DEQ finally published a long-awaited study on nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin this week, which found that nitrate pollution has become significantly worse in the last decade.
The report was published just days after Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed an executive order allowing one of the area’s largest sources of nitrate pollution, the Port of Morrow, to violate its permit until the end of this winter. The decision, which was made after area industries threatened mass layoffs, will increase the amount of nitrate-rich industrial wastewater being dumped on local fields during the winter, when the risk of groundwater contamination is highest.
Governor Kotek’s decision is particularly troubling given some of the report’s findings. DEQ found that nitrate levels tended to peak in springtime and that decisions about how land is used may have significant short-term impacts on groundwater. This suggests that the risk of leaching is even higher during the winter season when plants are unable to absorb excess nitrate before it reaches groundwater.
The report, published Wednesday, found that nitrate levels have continued to increase across the Lower Umatilla Basin since the last DEQ analysis was done in 2011. Both reports found that nitrate pollution of the region’s groundwater was increasing, demonstrating that state actions in recent years have made no meaningful difference.
Nitrate pollution has been a persistent problem since at least 1990, when the State of Oregon declared the region a groundwater management area due to high nitrate levels. Since then, studies have repeatedly shown that nitrate levels continue to rise and the problem continues to worsen.
At the same time, sources of industrial-scale pollution have ballooned. For example, the Port of Morrow produces roughly 1.5 billion gallons more wastewater and spreads it on more than 9 additional square miles than in 2012. Additionally, the Threemile Canyon Farms mega-dairy complex – which supplies milk to a Tillamook facility at the Port of Morrow – has become one of the largest Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in the United States and has continued to grow its herd in recent years.
Meanwhile, nitrate has affected hundreds of drinking water wells and public water systems across the Basin. Wells have tested as high as 94.8 mg/L – nearly ten times higher than the safe drinking water standard. An Oregon Rural Action analysis of well testing results last summer also showed that more than one-in-ten wells went from safe in 2023 to unsafe in 2024 due to rising nitrate levels.
“The DEQ results are appalling, but not surprising,” said Mitch Wolgamott, a retired DEQ official. “When I was DEQ’s eastern region administrator 15 years ago, I briefed the Environmental Quality Commission on this issue and told them that unless something changed, we’d be back a year later and have no choice but to talk about taking mandatory measures. But in the 15 years since, the State has never gone beyond voluntary measures to reduce pollution, and it’s high time we move past that failed strategy.”
Testing of drinking water wells by Oregon Rural Action and Morrow County in 2022 led to a county emergency, and testing by the Oregon Health Authority since 2023 has shown that thousands of residents are affected by unsafe nitrate levels. Many residents were unaware of the risk until recently, though state agencies and sources of pollution have long known about the crisis and the increasing levels of contamination.
“We declared a county emergency right away back in 2022 after we locally tested 100 wells and saw how bad this was,” said Jim Doherty, former Morrow County commissioner. “But the State’s known how bad it’s been for 35 years now, and since it took over in 2023, they’ve left more than a thousand wells untested and continue to allow polluters to keep making things worse. We did a better job of getting people tested in 8 months than the State has done in 2 years - they haven’t even done the bare minimum of declaring a health emergency.”
The DEQ analysis highlights the immediate need to finally reckon with the major sources of nitrate pollution in the area, including factories that make processed food, massive dairies & feedlots, and corporate-scale irrigated agriculture. Better rules and laws on reporting use of fertilizer by the state’s largest irrigators, fixing the Groundwater Quality Protection Act, and increasing resources for Oregonians affected by drinking water contamination are urgently needed – and Oregon’s agencies need to be far more aggressive and effective in enforcing pollution permits to protect Oregonian communities.
“The profits of billion-dollar corporations that pollute our groundwater can’t keep coming before the health of our families and neighbors,” said Kristin Anderson Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action. “It’s time for Governor Kotek to step up and declare a public health emergency in the Lower Umatilla Basin, stand up to polluting industries, and keep the promise to lead change that she made to this community almost two years ago.”
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