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Hastings official warns nitrate, uranium legacy will cost future generations; urges continued ASR and research
Summary
Retiring water official Marty Stange told the Hastings Utilities Board that long-running nitrate contamination — and a linked rise in mobilized uranium — has already closed wells, driven multi‑million dollar remediation costs, and will require sustained technical, financial and regulatory work to protect public health and water supplies.
Marty Stange, a long‑time water department official who told the board he will retire after the meeting, gave a wide‑ranging technical and policy briefing May 8 on nitrate contamination, related uranium mobilization and short‑ and long‑term responses.
Stange told the Hastings Utilities Board that nitrates in the area are a multi‑decade legacy tied to fertilizer use, irrigation and other sources, and that half of the city’s groundwater recharge “comes from the Platte River” and can take roughly 30 years to reach local wells. He said the city’s testing program extended beyond the 75‑square‑mile well‑protection area to about 200 square miles and that the utility has shut down eight wells because of contamination.
The presentation laid out why the issue matters locally and for public health: Stange quoted the nitrate regulatory threshold used in the analysis, saying “with an MCL of 10 parts per million, we were 7 and a half times that,” and told the board his team also found…
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