Drinking-water ‘road map’ team outlines focus areas, survey results and June public meeting

Ronan Igloria of GSI Water Solutions presented a status update on the county’s EPA-funded drinking-water road map project, summarizing its goals, timeline, early sampling and community outreach.

Ronan said the two-year project — a Morrow County effort funded through an EPA research award and developed with Umatilla County — is designed to assess whether and how existing public water systems can be used to connect rural domestic well users impacted by nitrates. The scope also includes examining nonconnection alternatives (for example, point-of-use treatment, improvements to existing wells, or shared community wells) for areas where extending a public system is not feasible.

The team has divided the study area into 16 “focus areas” across the La Grama study area and prioritized several areas near Boardman and Irrigon for connection feasibility work. Ronan said the project started in spring 2024, completed an initial data-collection and Quality Assurance Project Plan, and moved into a second stage focused on connection concepts and targeted sampling. He said the team collected a first round of confirmation samples in November 2024 and has been comparing those results with prior OHA well-safety sampling.

The project’s public-survey results were summarized: roughly 100 responses were returned from 700–800 mailed surveys, 87% of respondents were single-household owners, and most respondents reported being somewhat or very familiar with nitrate issues. The survey showed a preference pattern: bottled water and point-of-use/home treatment were the most selected options, while connection to a city or community system (18%) and community-owned water systems (13%) attracted smaller shares — a finding the presenters flagged as a possible education gap.

Consultants HDR and others presented high-level planning costs for preliminary connection concepts. Ronan said Boardman’s conceptual full-extension option for one focus area carried planning-level estimates in the multi‑million-dollar range (planning estimates in presentation ranged into the tens of millions when full distribution, tank, booster stations and residential services were included). Ronan cautioned these were high-level feasibility numbers and that further phased design would be needed to refine costs.

The project schedule released in the presentation set a public meeting for June 26 (Irrigon City Hall) to share connection concepts and gather resident feedback; the presenters said they would publish a connection concept summary shortly after the meeting. Ronan said stage 3 will focus on nonconnection alternatives and carry through late 2025, and stage 4 will develop the action plan and identify potential projects to pursue with more detailed funding and design work.

Ronan and other presenters said the team will evaluate lifecycle costs for alternatives (for example, reverse-osmosis point-of-use systems or shared wells versus full public-system connections) and that the stage-3 work will specifically compare nonconnection and connection options including funding pathways and community acceptability.

Ending: The consultants scheduled local public meetings for late June (June 26 public meeting) and encouraged advisory members to attend. They said a connection-concept summary would be posted after the June meeting and that stage 3 (nonconnection analysis) will run through the fall of 2025.