Yesterday, just weeks after the U.S. Drought Monitor revealed that nearly half of the Northwest was in a severe or extreme drought this summer, advocates with Food & Water Watch and the Stand Up to Factory Farm Coalition met with Oregon’s legislators to discuss how they could tackle Oregon’s ongoing water crisis. 

These meetings also come as the Oregon Department of Agriculture just days ago approved permits for two factory farms in Jefferson County that both have inadequate water supply plans and would place additional strain on the areas’ already limited water resources. These facilities both threaten to worsen nitrate pollution in nearby waterways, including the Wild and Scenic Crooked and Deschutes Rivers. Despite these foreseeable impacts to the region’s water, ODA permitted the facilities anyway.

Food & Water Watch Oregon Organizer Aimee Stone released the following statement: 

“We met with legislators to urge them to address Oregon’s ongoing water crisis and the role that factory farms play in putting our state’s resources at risk. These new numbers from the U.S. Drought Monitor are just the latest example of how we need to be reining in major polluters across the state, not allowing them to expand and take up more of our precious water.”  

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