More fertilizer restrictions possible in Oregon basin

Salem, Ore.-State environmental officials are indicating that more fertilizer restrictions may be in store for agriculture in Oregon’s Lower Umatilla Basin. “It’s looking like, overall, things are still going downhill,” reported Mitch Wolgamott, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) eastern region administrator. Efforts to reduce nitrogen leaching have been voluntary thus far, with the largest source on the ground’s surface unquestionably being irrigated agriculture, Wolgamott reported, adding that new rules may concern how and when farmers apply nitrogen to their fields. He said farmers were included in setting up the voluntary action plans, but there is no clear data on how much fertilizer or how many practices have been initiated and what they have accomplished. “That creates a big black hole for the largest source,” he stressed, “so what I want to do is get some reporting so we have better data from the source. We are coming up on an evaluation point, and if the voluntary measures are found not to be effective we need to consider something else. We do know that some good things are happening. We know that some progress is being made, but we’re not seeing that reflected in ground quality yet.” He indicated possible approaches could be improved targeting of an education and outreach program, or a permit-style regulation with irrigated agriculture. But he said the latter wouldn’t be the preferred, because “we don’t need any more permits to deal with.” The Oregon DEQ declared concerns about the Lower Umatilla Basin ground water management area in 1990 because nitrate-nitrogen concentrations in many area groundwater samples exceeded the federal safe drinking water standard. A four-year interagency hydrogeologic investigation to determine the extent of contamination and identify potential sources of contamination was conducted. The DEQ and local area residents and governments formed a committee to develop the action plan to address the contamination concerns in the basin.