More than 50% of domestic well users in Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area issued testing voucher following 6-month campaign
PORTLAND, Ore.— Following a directive from Gov. Tina Kotek, a coalition of state, local and community partners had met its goal of meaningfully offering water testing to all 3,300 identified domestic well-using households in Morrow and Umatilla counties within the Lower Umatilla Groundwater Management Area (LUBGWMA).
The goal of the effort – in which state agencies partnered with local public health departments and community organizations on an intensive bilingual canvassing, outreach and communications campaign – was to increase awareness about the risk of exposure to high nitrate levels in domestic well water and the availability of free water testing. For households with well water testing above the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum contaminant level of 10 milligrams per liter of water, the state is paying for bottled water delivery and, where effective, free in-home water treatment systems.
Groundwater in the LUBGWMA contains elevated levels of nitrate. High levels of nitrate consumption can be harmful to human health, especially for infants and pregnant women.
At Gov. Kotek’s request, the Oregon Legislature allocated funding through June 2025 to support testing, water provisioning and treatment systems, as well as continued outreach and education by state and local public health authorities and community-based organizations. Residents will be offered free repeat nitrate testing of their private well water and continued delivery of free drinking water to those whose nitrate levels test higher than 10 mg/liter.
The campaign, which kicked off in March, focused on quickly increasing information in the LUBGWMA about the dangers of drinking water that is high in nitrate levels and how residents can receive a voucher for free laboratory testing from the state.
“This campaign has been so important to increase awareness about the public health risks for all residents, and especially pregnant women and babies” said Sandra Hernandes, Ph.D., executive director of Doulas Latinas International. “It’s been a huge value to work with other community-based organizations, local county public health, and the state to quickly spread the word and educate our communities in various languages, such as Spanish, Mam, Quiche’, and English about health risks and how to access free resources.
“Bringing teams to canvass all neighborhoods, going door-to-door and making sure everyone in the Lower Umatilla Basin is given an opportunity for well testing has been a great support resource from the state,” said Robin Canaday, Morrow County Public Health director. “Now that we have a sense of which households are testing above the recommended limit, we’re able to understand where we need to re-test moving forward and what communities still need additional information.”
A coalition of state agencies, local public health authorities and community-based organizations that have been involved in the campaign will continue to provide educational information about health risks from nitrates in domestic well water in the LUBGWMA and encourage domestic well users to get their water tested.
The state will continue to advertise access to free water testing, water delivery and treatment, and to help residents with applying for testing, collecting water samples, delivering samples to a lab for analysis, and supporting Morrow and Umatilla counties’ public health departments in signing up people for water delivery if nitrate levels in their well water test above 10 mg/L.
So far, the drinking water of 235 households has tested above 10 mg/L; 341 households are receiving water delivery; and treatment systems have been installed in 28 homes. We expect this number to increase significantly in the next couple of weeks, as we work through the backlog and check the results for validity. Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) TestMyWell.Oregon.gov website will continue to be updated with the most recent metrics as they are available.
Well users in Morrow County have been receiving water deliveries since before the state’s campaign began, after the county issued a domestic well emergency declaration in June 2022 and tested 500 wells. The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) provided funding for county water delivery to households with nitrate over 10 mg/L.
Taking lessons from the COVID-19 campaign, this awareness effort included:
- Bilingual social media and digital advertising.
- Print media advertisements in local publication.
- Partnerships with local community-based organizations for outreach and events, including: Doulas Latinas International, Eastern Oregon Center for Independent Living, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, and Oregon Rural Action.
- Two contaminated domestic well open house community forums, attended by 400 residents and tabling by partners at more than two dozen community events.
- Direct door-to-door canvassing of all LUBGWMA residents outside areas served by public water systems.
- A contract with 211 for residents to get help completing a testing voucher application and schedule an appointment for well water collection and delivery to a state-contracted laboratory.
- Outreach materials designed with community input and provided to partners, including posters, yard signs, tabling event banners, educational magnets, water bottles, and more.
Outreach metrics of note include:
- 5,400 visits to addresses, including repeat visits to households where residents were not home.
- Health information provided at all 5,400 attempted contacts. Door hangers with contact information left when residents were not home.
- 1,000 water samples collected throughout the campaign.
- 1,200 households that were inaccessible (no trespassing signs or hostile dogs) identified for follow-up via specialized mailing campaigns.
- Identified 3,291* residences dependent on domestic wells in the LUBGWMA.
Communications metrics of note include:
- Three direct-mail postcards to all households in the LUBGWMA.
- 3,030,688 impressions on paid digital communications.
- 15,379 website visits to OHA’s English and Spanish websites.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality designated the LUBGWMA in 1990 under Oregon’s Groundwater Quality Protection Act of 1989 due to regional nitrate-nitrogen concentrations in groundwater that exceeded 7 mg/L.
LUBGWMA nitrate level health information
Households in the LUBGWMA that rely on domestic well water for drinking and cooking, and with nitrate test results above 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of water, are eligible to receive water deliveries. Households with test results between 10 mg/L and 25 mg/L of nitrate can get vouchers for in-home water treatment systems. End-of-tap treatment systems are not effective when nitrate levels are above 25 mg/L.
Water with nitrate levels up to 10 mg/L is considered safe for all uses, including drinking, cooking and toothbrushing. Water with more than 10 mg/L is safe for other uses, such as bathing, washing dishes, laundry and garden irrigation, and also for toothbrushing by adults and older children who can brush without swallowing water.
Well users in the LUBGWMA can schedule a free well water test appointment by calling 211. Well users also can apply for a voucher online, by email, or by phone to get a free well water testing voucher for nitrate. OHA is also paying on a one-time basis for other recommended domestic well contaminants (arsenic, bacteria, lead), as well as hardness, iron and manganese to inform treatment system decisions. OHA will pay for repeat testing of nitrate in the future as needed:
- Online: https://testmywell.oregon.gov
- Email: [email protected]
- Phone: 211 for help completing a voucher and setting as appointment for the state to collect a water sample and deliver it to the laboratory.
For more information, contact the OHA Domestic Well Safety Program at 971-673-0440 or [email protected].
*Canvassers went door-to-door across the Lower Umatilla Basin to identify households that depend on domestic well water. OHA and ODHS consider this total to be “the ground-truthed” number of residences that rely on domestic wells in the Lower Umatilla Basin; previous to the campaign this information was unavailable. This number is subject to change in the future as informal residences may be identified.
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