Study Indicates Threats To Region’s Groundwater

Groundwater contamination in Washington state is a growing concern, says a new study to be released today.

Nearly two-thirds of Washington residents rely on groundwater for their drinking water and further steps to protect it are necessary, the study says.

Using information collected between 1985 and 1993, the study found about 2,700 contaminated sites or water systems through the state, including many in Eastern Washington. There are about 214,000 wells in Washington state, the study notes.

The contaminants include nitrates, petroleum products, other organic chemicals, heavy metals and pesticides.

The $37,000, three-year study was conducted by the Washington

Toxics Coalition and Washington State University’s Cooperative Extension service.

It already has drawn criticism from state agricultural groups, which don’t like its documentation of pesticide and chemical contamination in Eastern Washington.

The report notes pesticide contamination was detected at 176 wells among 636 sites tested statewide, including clusters of wells in Grant and Franklin counties. It calls for further testing because “relatively few locations have been sampled.”

All the information for the study came from government data bases, said Elizabeth Loudon of the Toxics Coalition in Seattle.

“This was an attempt to gather together the readily existing data. We need improved knowledge of how to protect groundwater,” said WSU’s Christopher Feise, a water quality protection specialist.

The report was scheduled for release last September but was withheld for further review after objections from farm interests.

The state Department of Agriculture got complaints about the draft report, said Stu Trefry, a policy analyst in that agency.

Now it is being released close to the Feb. 17 deadline for public comment on whether a 14,000-squaremile area of Eastern Washington should be designated the sole source of drinking water for 300,000 people.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide in April whether to give the Eastern Columbia Plateau aquifer system federal protection.

“It’s a happy coincidence it’s out now - it adds extra weight to the argument that we need to protect our aquifers,” Loudon said.

The report is not alarmist in tone, noting that levels of contamination generally are low.

But enough problems exist to cause concern, and some areas of the state haven’t been tested thoroughly, according to the study.

“The overall picture of groundwater quality in Washington is not a cause for alarm, but it is a long-term problem, requiring a sustained focus on prevention,” the report says.