Special series on Valley wells earns another journalism award

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A series of Yakima Herald-Republic stories on extensive well water contamination in the Lower Valley has won another prestigious journalism award.

Reporter Leah Beth Ward's series "Hidden Wells, Dirty Water" won the 2009 Dolly Connelly Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award, which is presented annually by the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association. The award was announced Wednesday.

The three-part series revealed that as many as 30,000 Lower Valley residents, most of them Latino farm workers, rely on drinking water from wells contaminated by nitrates and bacteria from commercial fertilizer and dairy manure.

The stories showed a failure to act by agencies responsible for drinking water and environmental health and how the state's dairy industry lobby won legislation limiting inspections and enforcement of laws on manure management.

The series spurred an ongoing effort to address the problem at the local, state and federal level.

Former New York Times national correspondent Sam Verhovek, a judge in the competition, call Ward's series "well-reported, compellingly written and strongly presented," and called it an "an inspiring example of resourcefulness."

The series previously earned several regional and national awards, including the 2009 Blethen Award, the James V. Risser Prize in Western Environmental Journalism and a third place in the National Headliner Awards.