BOARDMAN, Ore. — A year earlier than expected, the Port of Morrow has said it will stop spreading water with high concentrations of nitrates during the winter season — potentially a small victory for communities who rely on wells and have struggled for decades with contamination of the water supply.
The state of Oregon has been aware for 34 years that an aquifer beneath parts of Morrow and Umatilla counties was contaminated with harmful levels of nitrates. But that knowledge has done nothing to change the trajectory of the pollution, which has only gotten worse over time.
Thousands of largely low-income residents in the Lower Umatilla Basin rely on well water sourced from that aquifer, and many of those wells have tested positive for unsafe levels of nitrates, which are particularly harmful to children and pregnant people.
Nitrates in the region come largely from food production: farming, food processing plants and large animal operations. The Port of Morrow, which houses several nitrate-producing businesses, is one small part of the larger problem.
In the Port of Morrow's case, it collects enormous amounts of wastewater from its tenants, much of it nitrate-rich. The water is then pumped away from the port and spread through irrigation circles over farm fields as fertilizer.
But when the water is spread during the non-growing season, in the winter, the risk of contaminating groundwater is higher as the crops are less able to soak up the nitrates into their roots.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality limits where that water can be spread during the winter and how much, but issues remain. Over the years, the Port of Morrow has violated its permit hundreds of times by spreading too much water during the winter season, racking up millions of dollars in fines from the DEQ.
Under a newly proposed permit, the port would stop spreading any water in the winter after this year. It would instead hold that water in new storage ponds built at the port.
The Port of Morrow is also asking DEQ to allow it to identify fields with a lower risk of nitrate leeching into the aquifer, focusing its water there over this winter. At the same time, it wants to expand the area where it can spread water by 45%, arguing that the same amount of water sprayed over a larger area makes it less likely to leach into the aquifer.
For its part, the DEQ has said that it plans to approve the port's requested changes to its permit, although it wants to hear from the public first.
A business-friendly group formed to troubleshoot problems in the Lower Umatilla Basin, Water for Eastern Oregon, gave KGW a statement in support of the plan.
"Not only is groundwater protection important, but so too is the ability to keep our largest employers operational," said Justin Green, executive director of Eastern Oregon. "We hope that state agencies, the port, and stakeholders in the basin can work together to find solutions that will allow the port to maintain operations and not impact local employees over the holidays."
On the other hand, an advocacy group called Oregon Rural Action, which has been fighting for local residents impacted by the contaminated water, had concerns about some aspects of the plan.
"It's very exciting to see that the port's moving up the timeframe for stopping winter dumping of wastewater. That never should have been happening in the first place, and the sooner that practice ends the better," said Kaleb Lay with Oregon Rural Action. "It's just concerning to see that packaged with what I can only describe as a poison pill in the 30-pound rule."
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Lay explained that the port is required to take measurements of how much nitrate is penetrating the soil as part of its current permit.
"When it gets too deep, more than 30 pounds per acre gets into the bottom of the root zone, that's a violation because it's very likely that that nitrate is going to leach," Lay said. "What they would like to do instead is replace that rule with one that appears to be far less protective of groundwater and is far less precise in how it measures how much nitrogen is in the field and where it is in the field."
The port had racked up about 900 violations as of last winter, Lay said, and about a third of those were related to this rule.
But the Port of Morrow, perhaps unsurprisingly, disagrees with Lay's assessment. Its executive director said that the port will use a new nitrogen index to help gauge how much nitrate is in any field.
"The Port is the steward of a valuable water resource for reuse that provides irrigation to farmers and allows them to avoid using chemical fertilizers. Yes, we are investing millions of dollars to improve our water reuse system and comply with state regulations," wrote Lisa Mittelsdorf, executive director for the Port of Morrow. "As you know, DEQ data shows wastewater reuse is a minor contributor to water contamination in the Lower Columbia Basin. But good stewardship means doing our part to reduce the risk profile of our water reuse."
It's true that the port is just one part of the problem. Data from the Oregon DEQ suggests that irrigated agriculture is responsible for nearly 70% of the nitrates. Confined animal feed lots are responsible for just over 12%, while "food processing land application" (which the port is considered) was responsible for less than 5% of nitrates, according to that data.
At the same time, the port's track record of permit violations suggest that it has struggled to stay within the bounds set by state regulators, in an area that regulators have otherwise been either unable or unwilling to rein in.
A public notice circulated by the DEQ does not specifically mention modifications to the 30-pound rule Lay mentioned, but says that the proposal "replaces the prior soil nitrate limits" and adds a requirement that the port install additional soil moisture sensors at impacted areas.
Details of the notice and of DEQ's opportunities for public comment can be found here. The window for written comments ends Oct. 11, and there will be an in-person hearing in Boardman on Oct. 9.