Thousands of eastern Oregonians face crisis of contaminated well water

Groundwater pollution in Umatilla and Morrow counties is growing worse, leading to dangerous levels of nitrates in water pumped up from what used to be safe wells.

BOARDMAN, Ore. — Oregon’s drought crisis tends to grab headlines as large parts of the state face increasingly meager water supplies. But there’s a separate water problem impacting thousands of residents of northeastern Oregon, one where the issue isn’t one of quantity, but quality.

Thousands of Oregonians in Umatilla and north Morrow counties rely on private wells for drinking water, tapping into a massive underground aquifer. But pollution has steadily contaminated that groundwater source in recent decades, turning what

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