MORROW COUNTY
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2022
County waits for state funds for water crisis
The county and businesses have spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars working
to fix the nitrate contamination problem
BY ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
It’s been more than two-and-
a-half months since Mayra Colin
found out the water coming from
her kitchen tap in Boardman
contained high levels of nitrates,
which can cause serious health
issues.
She’s still waiting for a perma-
nent fix.
“We’re on the list to have a fil-
ter installed in the future,” she
said in a text message on Mon-
day. “We have been provided
with bottled water and more re-
cently, water jugs weekly.”
For three months, Morrow
County officials have been test-
ing the tap water of residents
who rely on wells, and more than
a month ago, the county com-
mission declared an emergency
over the contamination. The
county is paying for bottled wa-
ter deliveries, and a consortium
of area businesses is paying for
reverse-osmosis filters for home-
owners in the area.
The state has provided some
help – but no direct money,
county officials said.
Jim Doherty, chair of the
Morrow County Board of
Commissioners wants the
state to contribute $4 million
to expand nitrate testing in the
county, pay for reverse osmosis
filter systems and help fund the
digging of new wells.
That’s how much the state re-
cently gave to Klamath County to
subsidize the cost of new wells for
homes where they’ve gone dry.
Regional state lawmakers told
Doherty to wait until a meeting
of the Legislature’s Emergency
Board in September when county
officials can request funds.
The contaminated water
comes from the Lower Uma-
tilla Basin, used by residents in
Umatilla and Morrow County.
It has become increasingly con-
taminated with nitrates during
the last 30 years from farm fer-
tilizers, animal manure and
wastewater from the Port of
Morrow and area food proces-
sors. Water that contains more
than 10 parts of nitrates per
million is unsafe to drink, ac-
cording to the Federal Environ-
mental Protection Agency.
Colin’s water tested more than
three times that.
About 1,300 households rely
on private wells in Morrow
County. So far, the county has
tested nearly 270 wells for ni-
trates, with nearly half showing
high levels, according to Ana
Pineyro, communicable disease
specialist at the Morrow County
Health Department. The highest
so far has tested more than six
times the EPA limit. Many peo-
ple who rely on wells in Morrow
County are Latino, officials at the
Oregon Department of Environ-
mental Quality said.
They’ve largely been ignored
by state and local lawmakers and
officials – and agencies. State offi-
cials do not regulate water quality
in private wells.
At least two state lawmak-
ers have met with leaders at the
Port of Morrow, with area food
processors and large area farm
owners. And in June, the East-
ern Oregon Economic Summit,
sponsored by the Port of Morrow,
included a regional water tour
through Morrow and Umatilla
counties, visiting farm and indus-
trial sites. Morrow and Umatilla
County’s regional leaders and
state Sen. Jeff Merkley attended
the summit.
The Oregon Health Author-
ity has sent out fliers in English
and Spanish to raise awareness
about nitrates, testing opportu-
nities and where residents can
collect safe water.
Oregon’s Emergency Manage-
ment Office also has helped, con-
tributing two truckloads of bot-
tled water, plastic jugs, temporary
bottled water delivery and two
temporary staffers to help with
distribution. One was bilingual
and worked on outreach to the
Spanish-speaking community.
DENIAL REMAINS AN ISSUE
In January, the Oregon De-
partment of Environmental
Quality fined the Port of Mor-
row in Boardman nearly $1.3
million for years of violating its
wastewater permit and allowing
hundreds of tons of excess nitro-
gen onto area farmlands above
the already contaminated basin.
The county board on June 9 de-
clared an emergency over the
contamination.
Food processing and agricul-
ture businesses affiliated with the
Port of Morrow are reimbursing
the county for up to 350 water
filters that cost $220 each. The
county is paying for the installa-
tion of those filters for residents
who need assistance, as well as
the weekly water deliveries cur-
rently going to at least 80 house-
holds while they wait for filters,
Doherty said.
There are 15 filters at the
Kathy Aney/For Oregon Capital Chronicle
Gerald Boullesteer, right, shows Morrow County Commissioner Jim Doherty how he uses pool testing strips
to test the water in the home of his recently deceased father-in-law, Don Drayton. Test of the filtered water
revealed below 10 parts per million for nitrate, while a test of unfiltered water was between about 13 and
20 ppm. Boullesteer uses the filtered water even to brush his teeth.
county Health Department, 50
coming by Friday, July 22, and
50 more ordered, according to
the county’s emergency manager,
Paul Gray.
A longer term solution de-
pends on financial assistance
from the state, Gray said.
“Shallow wells seem to be most
contaminated,” he said. “Deeper
wells don’t seem to have the ni-
trates. If we can fund new wells to
be dug for underprivileged resi-
dents that would be helpful.”
More than 40% of people in
Morrow County live below the
federal poverty line, according to
the U.S. Census Bureau.
With just 20% of the private
wells tested, Gray said he needs
to increase awareness of the ni-
trate issue.
Several people recently told
him the nitrate issue was non-
sense 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 go-
ing to cost them anything to get
their well tested, and even if we
put a filter in it’ll be free. Let us
test, we’ll get it fixed.”
Doherty said the county has
spent nearly $500,000 since April
on the problem if the cost of pub-
lic health and emergency man-
agement staff, as well as fuel for
doing home visits, is included.
Residents are angry the state
hasn’t helped fund fixes.
Some are “screaming
bloody murder that their dol-
lars shouldn’t go to this effort,”
Doherty said.
Many want the state to step in,
and local industries to continue
to pay, he said.
They blame regulators for al-
lowing the nitrate problem to
worsen over the decades and say
industrial farms, food processors
and the Port of Morrow are re-
sponsible for portions of the ni-
trate pollution, he said.
Doherty has talked with Gov.
Kate Brown and her water pol-
icy advisor, Courtney Crowell.
A spokesperson for Brown said
in an email that the governor “is
committed to making state re-
sources available to provide im-
mediate relief and assistance to
water users throughout the area.”
Crowell said Brown is co-
ordinating with state agencies
to set up a long-term outreach
and water testing program and
“working on developing a pro-
gram 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 following the
emergency declaration, Doherty
sought help from state Rep. Greg
Smith, R-Heppner. Doherty said
Smith, who is on the Emergency
Board, recommended that Mor-
row County request funding
from the board through the
Environmental Quality Depart-
ment or the Oregon Health Au-
thority. 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 fund-
ing to expand the testing of
private wells throughout the
state, provided the Oregon
Legislature agrees during its
session next year.
“There’s just no guarantee that
money will happen,” Gray said.
Both the Morrow and Uma-
tilla county board of com-
missioners asked Wyden and
Merkley for $2.7 million from
Congress for testing and fil-
ters. Their aides have met with
Morrow County leaders at least
once. Molly Prescott, a press
secretary for Merkley, said
both senators want to prioritize
funding for the region’s drink-
ing water in next year’s congres-
sional spending.
“I expect to have news to re-
port on this coming out of the
Interior, Environment, and Re-
lated 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 fed-
eral agencies are not allowed
to use congressional money
on filtration 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 drink-
ing water. This bill, if passed,
could take years to go into effect.
After the emergency was de-
clared, Doherty met with an aide
for U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, but no action came from
it. Knox McCutchen, communi-
cations director for Bentz office,
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 Schil-
ler said they have no plans for
action.
Morrow County officials
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 find and direct state
resources to the county in the
aftermath of the emergency dec-
laration.
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 any-
thing at this point,” he said.
Hansell is in touch with
Crowell, Brown’s water advisor.
“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 re-
questing money for a postdoc-
toral 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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