The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is working with its partners the Oregon Department of Human Services, Morrow County Public Health Department, Umatilla County Health Department, and community based organizations to provide free safe water services to households in northern Morrow and northwestern Umatilla counties. This is the area known as the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area (LUBGWMA). The maps below show the results of laboratory tests for nitrate in well water. The tables lower on the page provide the same information by the numbers, along with tables listing the number of households that have had water treatment systems installed, and households receiving bottled water deliveries.
For more information about the data that OHA is collecting related to domestic well testing in the Lower Umatilla Basin, please read this
memo from Gabriela Goldfarb, OHA’s Environmental Public Health Section Manager.
All nitrate test results
Nitrate test results at or above 10 mg/L
Nitrate test results 5 mg/L to 9.99 mg/L
Nitrate test results below 5 mg/L
Summary tables
updated November 30, 2024
Household Nitrate Test Results
| Nitrate Range | Morrow | Umatilla | Total |
|---|
| 0 to 4.99 mg/L | 239
| 734
| 973
|
|---|
| 5 to 9.99 mg/L | 130
| 298
| 421
|
|---|
| 10 to 24.99 mg/L | 126
| 230
| 356
|
|---|
| At or above 25 mg/L | 141
| 71
| 212
|
|---|
| TOTALS | 636
| 1326
| 1962
|
|---|
Households with Nitrate Test Results At or Above 10 mg/L
| Nitrate Range | Morrow | Umatilla | Total |
|---|
| 10 to 24.99 mg/L | 126
| 230
| 356
|
|---|
| At or above 25 mg/L | 141
| 71
| 212
|
|---|
| TOTALS | 267
| 301
| 568
|
|---|
| Total high results as percent of all samples | 42% | 23% | 29% |
|---|
Water Treatment System Installations
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Morrow | Umatilla | Total |
|---|
95
| 120
| 215
|
Additional Notes- The number of water treatment systems listed above includes households that got a full water test from OHA and those that got a nitrate test from the Morrow County Health Department in 2022. The maps and data tables above that show nitrate test results only include the tests done by OHA. This means that the number of treatment systems listed may be different from the number of houesholds that are eligible for treatment through OHA testing. These are households with nitrate levels between 10 and 25 milligrams per liter of water.
Households Receiving Water Delivery
| Morrow | Umatilla | Total |
|---|
295
| 248
| 543
|