RSSAction on Lower Valley water contamination seen as overdue
Residents hear EPA plans for stricter enforcement of water-quality lawsYakima Herald-Republic
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GRANGER, Wash. -- Federal regulators announced plans Wednesday to begin enforcing water-quality laws in the Lower Yakima Valley where there has been widespread and long-standing contamination of groundwater used for drinking by private well owners.
The inspections would be unannounced visits to large dairies, feedlots and other operations suspected of unlawfully discharging pollutants into surface and ground-
water, said Thomas Eaton, state operations director for the Environ-mental Protection Agency's regional office in Seattle.
The announcement came at a public meeting held to discuss the results of a report compiled over the last 10 months by EPA and several state agencies regarding the Lower Valley problem, first documented in a series of stories a year ago in the Yakima Herald-Republic.
The EPA will also begin sampling well water early next year in an effort to identify the sources of nitrate and bacterial pollution, which many well owners believe is chiefly caused by the application of dairy manure and commercial fertilizer to crops. Manure and fertilizer are rich in nitrates.
Many of the 55 people at the meeting said identification of the source of the pollution and enforcement against the culprits is long overdue.
"Is this not just another endless report restating the same issues? The answer is yes," said Louie Aguilar of Toppenish.
Maurice Rosen of Grandview said sampling to determine the source is a straightforward process. "It isn't rocket science anymore. We can find out whether it's human, animal or fertilizer," Rosen said.
Jan Whitefoot of Harrah, who participated in the EPA-led study but has been critical of the process, said the Yakima Valley is becoming "the toilet bowl" of the state.
"We don't have another 30 years to stand around and destroy what we have here in the Yakima Valley," Whitefoot said.
During a break in the meeting, participants were asked to put colored sticky notes next to their preferred method for addressing the problem. The options had been pasted on the walls of a conference at Radio KDNA, where the meeting was held. The "enforcement" option drew the largest number of sticky notes.
That prompted Eaton to say the message had gotten through.
"We get the message that people believe we should be emphasizing enforcement a lot more than we are," he said.
Marlene White, a member of the Yakama Nation, wondered why the groundwater problem hasn't received the same kind of government attention and money as the recent landslide on State Route 410, which isolated the community of Nile. The federal government will spend $1 million to speed up construction of a new road to get commerce flowing again in that valley.
"Water is underground and you can't see it," White said. "The landslide you can see so it gets money. But clean water is a basic need. If we can't assist people in getting that basic necessity, we are failing."
Adam Dolsen, whose family owns the Cow Palace dairy in Granger and a feedlot in Harrah, didn't publicly speak at the meeting but said afterward that their operations welcome enforcement.
"We have nothing to hide. We're one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, and we follow those regulations to the T," Dolsen said.
Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, also attended the meeting. He said later that he favors a program to replace shallow wells with deeper wells or small regulated water systems where practical.
"Expanded and aggressive enforcement isn't going to get good drinking water for people," Chandler said. "Folks hate an industry, but if any effort focuses on attacking an industry, nobody's going to be better off."
EPA's enforcement announcement is part of a national effort announced earlier this month by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson.
In a speech, Jackson singled out large concen-trated animal feeding operations as one of the biggest threats posed to clean water.
* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 509-577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.
I find it interesting that people live at these same dairies and feedlots and are not getting sick from the water. Hmm, sounds like a witch hunt to me.
Report ViolationJarhead,
Your data showing no-one living on the CAFO's is getting sick from the water? Know that some people living on or near them are utilizing bottled water. Wonder why?
So, Farmer Jarhead thinks no one living on the CAFOS is getting sick from the water? Prove it. Does he have facts that prove that none of their wells are contaminated with nitrates? I doubt the CAFO owners are drinking water from wells that are near their decomposing dead cattle that have been buried next to the neighbor's well. (Harrah) I doubt the CAFO owners are drinking water coming from wells next to their unlined lagoons of liquid manure. I doubt the CAFO owners are drinking water next to fields where thousands of gallons of liquid manure are being dumped and sprayed on fields. (Sunnyside, Wapato, Harrah and Outlook) Do they have whole house water purifiers or are they drinking bottled water that others can not afford? Or do they actually live a distance away from their CAFOS, in another community, high up on a hill? Isn't it amazing that these corporate, factory polluters move into impoverished areas where none of the politicians will stand up because their campaigns are heavily financed by the factory farm CAFO-Dairy industry? Check the Washington State public disclosure info and you will see who is backing our local officials. We are not anti-Agriculture. We are anti-bad neighbor. The problem isn't farmers. The problem is factory farms that put too many animals in too small of a space. The problem is no enforcement of violations. Oh and yeah, when anyone has the courage to stand up, they are accused of being on a witch hunt.
Report ViolationI live less than a mile from 2 different feedlots, my house well and irrigation well was tested by USDA just last year....zero nitrates were present.
Report ViolationFarmerJarhead, I lived between 2 dairies, both a half mile away, and my well tested 28 ppm nitrates. That was 25 years ago. I sold at great financial loss. My next home was fine until a dairy put in an irrigation circle which deposited lagoon slurry across the street. We couldn't open the door without gagging. Same story, sold the place and moved out of Yakima county and haven't been back.
Not even visit my friends. JarheadFarmer your well might be clear for now but your time is coming. Every glass of water you serve your grandkids and parents isn't going to help their health.
.
According to the report on KIMA news, the recent testings of wells has shown that 20% have high nitrates, 19% have elevated bacteria and 12% are not safe. High nitrates harm babies and pregnant women. The point source of pollution is the issue. There has to be enforcement and violators need to be held accountable. Look what happened at the Outlook school. If someone hadn't complained, who would have protected the children? This isn't a witch hunt as Farmer Jarhead suggests.
Report ViolationUnfortunately this “point source” is a little more difficult to find then expected. High nitrates in the Yakima valley have been an issue since they started testing for nitrates and bacteria back in mid 70’s. Compared with 1978 the nitrate levels have actually decreased. The point source can not be traced to just one use of modern day agriculture like dairy farms or feed lots. Over the past 100 years the valley has been an agricultural hot spot, and through the years are farming practices have changed. Compared to 25 years ago are farming practices are completely different. A dairyman 25 years could have gotten away with excessive spraying or dumping of manure. The knowledge just was not there at the time to know that we were exposing or future generations to a serious risk. Now days are understanding of the water tables as well as the components of are fertilizers are taken much more seriously. These nitrate levels will not be traced to any modern form of agriculture whether it’s a dairy farm or a feedlot. You can look at previous cases in the basin or Twin Falls ID. Unfortunately the wells in these high nitrate levels are so poorly constructed that many of the people in these areas are drinking right from underground septic tanks. If you look to put blame on one aspect of the agriculture industry then you are just misinformed.
Report ViolationBeamer-
Wasn't the USA still using DDT around 25 years ago? Can you really correlate your story to the dairy's operating today?
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