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Umatilla staff say city’s wells meet standards now; plan calls for Columbia River supply by 2037
Summary
At a town hall residents asked whether Umatilla’s drinking water is at risk; staff said municipal wells test mostly nondetectable for nitrates over 20 years, cited four low detections (0.2–1 ppm) against a 10 ppm limit, and said the city’s water master plan projects a transition to Columbia River-sourced water by about 2037.
Residents at the City of Umatilla’s town-hall meeting pressed staff about drinking-water sources and health risks; staff replied that current well tests are largely nondetectable for nitrates and described a long-range plan to move to Columbia River water.
“Right now, our water is being sourced from those four wells,” City Manager Dave Stockdale said, describing municipal groundwater supplies. He told the meeting that, over about the last 20 years, most nitrate tests were nondetectable and that there were four test results that showed low levels, “something like [0.2] to [1] parts per million,” compared with the Environmental Protection Agency and state maximum of 10 ppm.
Why it matters: Residents asked whether the community might qualify for assistance under an Eastern Oregon water settlement; staff said Umatilla was not a registered party and does not meet the settlement’s qualification checkpoints, which are aimed primarily at shallow private wells with documented nitrate exceedances.
Staff also described the long-term supply plan: the city’s water master plan (adopted in August 2022) calls for transitioning from groundwater to Columbia River surface water by about 2037. Stockdale said the city has an unused Columbia River water right (roughly 30 cubic feet per second) and that Amazon built a new industrial facility with an installed diversion and pretreatment “stub” that the city hopes to transfer to public control in coming years; using river water will require a different filtration system (ultrafiltration rather than the relatively light treatment the aquifer-sourced water receives).
Staff pointed residents to the state site (yourwater.oregon.gov) and the city’s annual water-quality reports for complete test histories and said they will publish a memo with links for the Aug. 4 city-manager report.
What was not claimed: Staff emphasized that current municipal well testing has largely been nondetectable for nitrates and that recorded low results remain well below the EPA/state max; they did not assert future tests will remain identical or that the city’s transition timetable cannot change.
What comes next: Staff will provide the promised follow-up memo and links; residents may request historical test records from the state for older results, and the city said it will include links to its well logs and health reports.
