SALEM — Gov. Tina Kotek has issued the basics of her plan to address groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Basin.

The announcement Friday, April 7, was met with praise from some but skepticism from others.

“Every Oregonian should have safe, healthy drinking water,” Kotek stated in a press release. “The water contamination experienced in Morrow and Umatilla counties is unacceptable and must be fixed. Residents need to be aware of the danger posed by nitrates and have immediate access to well testing and clean drinking water while we work towards longer-term solutions.”

Since January, the governor’s office has been meeting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Oregon Department of Agriculture as well as engaging community leaders to build a plan and team that will accelerate free testing of domestic wells.

This week, members of the governor’s office were in Morrow and Umatilla counties touring impacted residential sites and meeting with community leaders, local elected leaders and public health officials in advance of Kotek visiting the counties in the coming weeks. Kotek reiterated her commitment to coordinating an interagency response that includes testing and treatment of affected wells, pursuing a contract with a local community-based organization to engage in this effort and dedicating a project manager to support safe drinking water.

The governor’s office confirmed it sent a proposed contract to Oregon Rural Action in hopes of partnering with the nonprofit on this effort, and may reach out to other organizations if they are not able to do this work.

Oregon Rural Action wants the details

ORA has been involved in organizing community responses to the crisis. Kristin Anderson Ostrom, executive director of ORA, said the organization appreciated the governor’s words of commitment.

“We are looking forward to sitting down together and hearing specifics,” she said. “The bottom line is resources need to be available for the long-term solutions.”

The governor’s office said in addition to free water testing, households whose water tests high for nitrates will receive delivered water and, where effective, in-home filtration systems, while longer-term solutions are being developed.

Ostrom noted that based on estimates on data from the public health departments of Morrow and Umatilla counties, which have been collecting the data on the wells, water delivery alone could cost $3 million, and Kotek is seeking $3 million to cover everything.

Gabriela Goldfarb, the Environmental Public Health Section manager at OHA, will be the project lead on this effort, according to the governor’s office. A public education and outreach campaign will ensure every domestic well owner in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area has information on the impact of high nitrates in drinking water.

Ostrom said that communication is vital.

“We’re a small nonprofit organization and public health districts are small, so what we need is for the state to bring the resources,” she said. “It starts with a broad communication effort to not drink the well water until it has been tested.”

Nella Parks, a senior organizer at Oregon Rural Action, emphasized

the need for specifics from the governor.

“We really want to know what resources the state is bringing to the table, both short-term and long-term,” Parks said. “The short-term being well tests, filtration systems and water delivery, the long-term being connection to public water sources.”

She also was critical of the recent visit the governor’s staff made to the area.

“They did not meet with the leaders who have undrinkable water in the basin,” Parks said. “They have invited them to the basin … and their invitation was sent the day after her inauguration and they still haven’t seen her. They need (Kotek) to address this situation with urgency and be in solidarity with them.”

Parks said Kotek’s announcement is noncommittal and does not give us any new information. She said the governor’s office has called this “a reset,” and ORA needs community involvement at the table rather than a top-down approach.County officials good with governor’s promisesMorrow County Board of Commissioners Chair David Sykes said the county welcomes Kotek’s “strong statements” that the state of Oregon is prepared to work diligently to ensure residents have access to safe drinking water.

“Our county has been working hard on this problem and we look forward to a productive and long relationship with the state to make sure this happens,” he said. “The governor’s appointment of a special project manager to head up this effort especially sends us all a very encouraging message, showing the governor’s commitment to solving both our short and long-term nitrate contamination problems.”

Dan Dorran, chair of the Umatilla County Board of Commissioners, said he has had two lengthy meetings with two staffers in the governor’s office, once in Salem and once here.

“The state has appreciated the amount of work Umatilla and Morrow counties have done on mapping and testing,” he said. “And we appreciate what the state has done.”

Besides the appointment of an Oregon Health Authority official to oversee response to nitrate contamination, Dorran praised the announcement of planned partnerships.

“They’re trying to line up partners for contracts for testing and public outreach,” he said. “They haven’t been identified yet.”

Dorran also said he welcomed federal involvement.

“What the EPA wanted to see was that we were moving forward,” he said. “Mapping, testing and filtration have been a clear high priority. Umatilla and Morrow counties have been taking the problem extremely seriously. We look forward to working in accelerating partnerships with those who appreciate how much we have achieved.”

Dorran outlined three solution building blocks on which the counties, state and federal government have been working. The first involved well testing and filtration, funded by $881,000 from the state. The second was domestic well testing and community drinking water systems, which $1.7 million in federal funds will cover. The third block is a state-funded post-doctoral study of long-term groundwater solutions, involving the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area, DEQ, Oregon State University and the counties.EPA not part of interagency teamKotek, port commit to the community“I want residents who have been impacted by this water contamination to know that we are working with urgency to deliver solutions,” Kotek said. “The state’s coordinated response must meet the needs of the families on the ground. In addition to my staff’s hard work over the past several months, I look forward to personally meeting with community members in Umatilla and Morrow counties in the weeks ahead.”

Residents of the affected region can access testing by visiting the OHA Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area Testing and Treatment webpage or contacting their county public health department.

Kotek’s announcement comes almost 16 months after the DEQ fined the port of Morrow more than $1.3 million for repeatedly over-applying agricultural wastewater on nearby farms in an area that already has elevated levels of groundwater nitrates. The state environmental regulation agency later increased the fine to more than $2.1 million.

That penalty cast a new spotlight on groundwater contamination in the area, which has been a problem for decades. The Morrow County Board of Commissioners in response to the crisis declared a state of emergency.

Joe Taylor, president of the Port of Morrow Commission, said the port looks forward to “participating in a coordinated effort to provide short-term and long-term solutions for safe drinking water to our communities.”

Port Executive Director Lisa Mittelsdorf said the port is engaged with federal officials, the Environmental Protection Agency, the governor’s office, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Morrow County, the city of Boardman and its port businesses and farming partners.

“Our goal through these partnerships is two-fold,” she stated. “We will work on long-term safe drinking water options for our communities. At the same time, we are working to make significant improvements to our water and waste-water systems to conserve groundwater quality within the State designated groundwater management area.”

“I want residents who have been impacted by this water contamination to know that we are working with urgency to deliver solutions. The state’s coordinated response must meet the needs of the families on the ground. In addition to my staff’s hard work over the past several months, I look forward to personally meeting with community members in Umatilla and Morrow counties in the weeks ahead.”

— Gov. Tina Kotek

“We’re a small nonprofit organization and public health districts are small, so what we need is for the state to bring the resources. It starts with a broad communication effort to not drink the well water until it has been tested.”

— Kristin Anderson Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action