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East Oregonian
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Water:
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Umatilla counties, visiting
farm and industrial sites.
Morrow and Umatilla Coun-
ty’s regional leaders and state
Sen. Jeff Merkley attended
the summit.
The Oregon Health
Authority has sent out fl iers in
English and Spanish to raise
awareness about nitrates,
testing opportunities and
where residents can collect
safe water.
Oregon’s Emergency
Management Office also
has helped, contributing
two truckloads of bottled
water, plastic jugs, tempo-
rary bottled water delivery
and two temporary staff ers
to help with distribution. One
was bilingual and worked
on outreach to the Span-
ish-speaking community.
Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Ana Pineyro, communicable disease specialist at the Morrow County Health Department, left, talks with a resident in West
Glen neighborhood of Boardman about nitrate contamination and asks to sample his tap water.
most contaminated,” he said.
“Deeper wells don’t seem to
have the nitrates. If we can
fund new wells to be dug for
underprivileged residents that
would be helpful.”
More than 40% of people
in Morrow County live below
the federal poverty line,
Denial remains
an issue
In January, the Oregon
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality fined the Port
of Morrow in Boardman
nearly $1.3 million for years
of violating its wastewater
permit and allowing hundreds
of tons of excess nitrogen
onto area farmlands above the
already contaminated basin.
The county board on June 9
declared an emergency over
the contamination.
Food processing and agri-
culture businesses affi liated
with the Port of Morrow are
reimbursing the county for
up to 350 water fi lters that
cost $220 each. The county
is paying for the installation
of those fi lters for residents
who need assistance, as well
as the weekly water deliver-
ies currently going to at least
80 households while they wait
for fi lters, Doherty said.
There are 15 fi lters at the
county Health Department,
50 coming by Friday, July 22,
and 50 more ordered, accord-
ing to the county’s emergency
manager, Paul Gray.
A longer term solution
depends on financial assis-
tance from the state, Gray said.
“Shallow wells seem to be
has spent nearly $500,000
since April on the problem
if the cost of public health
and emergency management
staff , as well as fuel for doing
home visits, is included.
Residents are angry the
state hasn’t helped fund fi xes.
Some are “screaming
available to provide imme-
diate relief and assistance to
water users throughout the
area.”
Crowell said Brown is
coordinating with state agen-
cies to set up a long-term
outreach and water testing
program and “working on
“SHALLOW WELLS SEEM TO BE MOST
CONTAMINATED. DEEPER WELLS DON’T SEEM TO
HAVE THE NITRATES. IF WE CAN FUND NEW WELLS
TO BE DUG FOR UNDERPRIVILEGED RESIDENTS
THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.”
— Paul Gray, Morrow County emergency manager
according to the U.S. Census
Bureau.
With just 20% of the
private wells tested, Gray said
he needs to increase aware-
ness of the nitrate issue.
Several people recently
told him the nitrate issue
was nonsense while he was
distributing water at a school
in Boardman.
“Telling me, ‘We don’t
need our wells tested, we’ve
been drinking this for 50
years,’ and they leave,” Gray
said. “It’s not going to cost
them anything to get their
well tested, and even if we put
a fi lter in it’ll be free. Let us
test, we’ll get it fi xed.”
Doherty said the county
bloody murder that their
dollars shouldn’t go to this
eff ort,” Doherty said.
Many want the state to
step in, and local industries
to continue to pay, he said.
They blame regulators for
allowing the nitrate problem
to worsen over the decades
and say industrial farms,
food processors and the Port
of Morrow are responsible for
portions of the nitrate pollu-
tion, he said.
Doherty has talked with
Gov. Kate Brown and her
water policy advisor, Court-
ney Crowell. A spokesperson
for Brown said in an email
that the governor “is commit-
ted to making state resources
developing a program and
resources to address the
drinking water situation in
both Morrow and Umatilla
counties,” Crowell said.
Regional leaders
largely quiet on issue
In the weeks follow-
ing the emergency declara-
tion, Doherty sought help
from state Rep. Greg Smith,
R-Heppner. Doherty said
Smith, who is on the Emer-
gency Board, recommended
that Morrow County request
funding from the board
through the Environmental
Quality Department or the
Oregon Health Authority. The
board meets Sept. 21 through
23, and Doherty is preparing
a request.
Smith did not respond to
multiple emails, calls or a text
message from the Capital
Chronicle requesting comment.
Gray said the Oregon
Health Authority is trying to
get funding to expand the test-
ing of private wells through-
out the state, provided the
Oregon Legislature agrees
during its session next year.
“There’s just no guaran-
tee that money will happen,”
Gray said.
Both the Morrow and
Umatilla county board of
commissioners asked Wyden
and Merkley for $2.7 million
from Congress for testing and
fi lters. Their aides have met
with Morrow County leaders
at least once. Molly Prescott,
a press secretary for Merk-
ley, said both senators want
to prioritize funding for the
region’s drinking water in
next year’s congressional
spending.
“I expect to have news
to report on this coming
out of the Interior, Environ-
ment, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee, of which
Sen. Merkley is Chair, before
August,” she wrote in an
email. The counties could
receive up to $1.6 million,
and solely for testing because
federal agencies are not
allowed to use congressional
money on fi ltration for private
wells, Prescott said.
In Wyden’s virtual town
hall, Boardman residents
asked what he could do to
help with the nitrate issue. He
said he was working to pass
the WASH Act, which would
provide federal grants for
private well testing in areas
with contaminated drinking
water. This bill, if passed,
could take years to go into
eff ect.
After the emergency was
declared, Doherty met with an
aide for U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, but no action came
from it. Knox McCutchen,
communications director
for Bentz offi ce, wrote in an
email: “We are eager to help
in any way we can, and we
are currently in the process of
identifying what federal assis-
tance is available.”
State Rep. Bobby Levy,
R-Echo, has met with Morrow
County Commissioners, but
her legislative aide, Whitley
Schiller said they have no
plans for action.
Morrow County offi cials
also spoke with state Sen. Bill
Hansell, R-Athena. Hansell,
also on the Emergency Board,
said no one from Morrow
County had asked him to
pursue state money.
Doherty said he didn’t ask
Hansell for money, but had
hoped the senator would do
more to fi nd and direct state
resources to the county in the
aftermath of the emergency
declaration.
Hansell has not met with
anyone with contaminated
well water in Morrow or
Umatilla counties. Nor has
he attended any community
meetings on the issues.
“I haven’t been invited to
anything at this point,” he said.
Hansell is in touch with
Crowell, Brown’s water advi-
sor. “I’ve told them if there’s
anything I can do to help or to
move the dial I will,” he said.
Hansell wrote to Brown
requesting money for a post-
doctoral student from Oregon
State University to collect
more data on where nitrate
contamination is worst and at
what levels.
“I know that’s long range
and long term,” Hansell said.
“I stand ready to go to bat
through the emergency board.”
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