Today, Food & Water Watch released a series of maps that underline the calls from community members for state officials to address the ongoing drinking water crisis in Eastern Oregon. The maps reveal that high concentrations of the state’s dirty factory farms are located in already polluted Groundwater Management Areas (GWMAs) – posing a further risk to communities’ drinking water. 

As Oregon’s legislators take on updating Oregon’s groundwater laws this session, through the water package proposed by Representatives Helm and Owens, these maps make it clear that this important work needs to include more effective regulation of factory farms. SB80, which places a moratorium on permitting new and expanding large factory farms in Oregon’s designated GWMAs, would prevent new sources of water pollution from exacerbating the public health crisis in these already overburdened communities. 

The Lower Umatilla Basin GWMA has become an environmental sacrifice zone for industry, with the area being home to the state’s largest beef feedlot, the nation’s largest mega-dairy, Threemile Canyon Farms, and the infamous Port of Morrow. State analysis has long concluded that irrigated agriculture and factory farms are contributing to the area’s ongoing nitrate contamination. Factory farms store massive amounts of nitrogen-laden manure in lagoons and then spray it onto farm fields, where it can seep into the groundwater, contaminating the wells we rely on for drinking, cooking, and bathing. 

Despite decades of pollution and some important first steps taken by the legislature via SB85, Oregon’s factory farms still remain woefully underregulated – a fact that seems unlikely to change without bold leadership from the legislature. This is especially clear in light of Governor Kotek’s recent Executive Order, giving the Port of Morrow free-rein to continue violating its wastewater permit – showing that without legislative action, the Governor and her regulatory agencies will continue to cater to industry demands rather than carrying out their commitments to ensure safe drinking water for all.

“Access to clean, safe water is a basic human right, yet for decades communities here in Oregon have been exposed to dangerous levels of nitrates in their drinking water,” said Food & Water Watch Oregon Organizer Aimee Stone. “We have made some important strides in regulating the industries that are contributing to this disaster, but we can’t stop until polluters are held accountable, and every Oregonian has access to clean, safe drinking water.”

Food & Water Watch and allies will be gathering at the State Capitol later this month to call on legislators to support SB80.