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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 02, 2010 | Updated 0 hours, 23 minutes ago
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12/7/1995  | Email this article • Print this article • Comment on this article | Nitrate well pollution gets another look
By STEVE MEYERS
of the East Oregonian
HERMISTON -- It's back to the grindstone for a committee reviewing the region's problem with nitrate well pollution.
After a period of inactivity, the Groundwater Management Area Citizen Committee heard the results of a five-year study Wednesday that says one-third of sampled wells in the Hermiston-Boardman area show elevated levels of nitrate contamination.
Now the committee turns its attention to making an action plan to reduce the nitrogen load from irrigated crops, food processing and other sources.
"We have the unique opportunity to deal with the problem locally, to control our fate," said committee chairman Henry Lorenzen of Pendleton, an attorney and dryland farmer.
Lorenzen, also a member of the state's Environmental Quality Commission, said it won't be easy or popular to convince farmers and others to change their practices to reduce nitrogen loads.
"It will require an effort on all of our parts," he said.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality began testing wells locally for chemical contamination in the mid-1980s. In 1990, the state declared 550 square miles in northern Morrow and western Umatilla counties as Oregon's second "groundwater management area" because of nitrate contamination.
About 30 percent of 252 rural wells tested above the federal drinking standard of 10 milligrams per liter, or 10 parts per million. Some wells recorded more than 100 parts per million.
The highest concentrations in the study came from the Boardman to west Umatilla area, with some samples exceeding 70 parts per million in the irrigated area between Irrigon and the Port of Morrow.
At Threemile and Sixmile Canyon, reported nitrate levels reached as high as 70 parts per million, with livestock waste and irrigated agriculture as the sources of contamination. The army depot reported levels above 100 parts per million at several sites from environmental contamination.
Concentrations also reached as high as 100 parts per million at the confluence of Butter Creek and the Umatilla River.
Nitrate concentrations didn't exceed 31 parts per million and were below 10 in the Hermiston, Echo, Umatilla Meadows and Hat Rock areas.
On Wednesday, the committee heard reports from three of the study's main authors: Gerald Grondin of DEQ, Karl Wozniak of the Oregon Water Resources Department and Dennis Nelson of the Oregon Health Division.
Their study says surface contaminants are leaching into the groundwater at a rapid rate. Travel time to groundwater can range from one to 18 months depending on moisture, soil and other factors.
Possible sources of nitrate contamination include over-fertilizing irrigated crops, animal feedlots, food processing wastewater sprinkled on crops, home septic systems, city sewage disposal and groundwater recharge projects. No one source stands out as the dominant problem in the Umatilla Basin, according to the report.
"We have data capable of saying all these are contributing to groundwater pollution," Nelson said.
Because water carries its own "chemical signature," researchers can tie a land activity such as a feedlot with the distinct chemistry of water in a nearby well.
"The circumstantial evidence is pretty powerful," Nelson said.
High nitrate levels pose health problems for infants and pregnant or nursing women because it can cause methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby syndrome." Nitrates interfere with the blood's ability to carry oxygen to vital tissues in infants less than a year old.
During the study, people drinking from wells with more than 10 parts per million of nitrate were notified of the results and given health recommendations relating to infants and pregnant and nursing women, such as drinking bottled water. Beyond that, the state also recommends that no one should drink water with more than 20 parts per million of nitrate because of potential health concerns.
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