Morrow County, Oregon is home to mega farms and food processing plants. But it is also home to several Amazon data centers. And now, some experts believe, this combination is leading to worryingly high concentrations of nitrates in drinking water that are increasing cancer and abortion rates in the area.
rolling stone The exposé details how Amazon, despite not using any dangerous nitrates to cool its data centers, is accelerating pollution of the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer, which residents rely on for drinking water. It is a combination of poor wastewater management, sandy soils and good old physics that has caused nitrate concentrations in drinking water to reach 73 ppm (parts per million) in some wells, 10 times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit.
according to rolling stone“Experts say Amazon’s arrival has supercharged this process. Data centers draw millions of gallons of water from the aquifer each year to cool their computer equipment, which then runs into the port’s wastewater system.” This results in excessive nitrate-rich waste water flowing into the fields in the area. But porous soils quickly become saturated and more nitrates enter the aquifer.
This is compounded when Amazon draws this contaminated water to cool its data centers, which already exceeds federal legal limits for nitrate:
When that contaminated water passes through data centers to absorb heat from server systems, some of the water evaporates, but the nitrates remain, increasing the concentrations. This means that when polluted water flows back into the wastewater system through data centers, it is even more contaminated, sometimes up to an average of 56 ppm, which is eight times higher than Oregon’s safety limit.
Of course, Amazon disputes this narrative. spokeswoman Lisa Lewandowski said rolling stone The story was “misleading and inaccurate” and that, “the amount of water used and returned by our facilities represents only a very small portion of the overall water system – not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.”
Levandowski also said that the region’s groundwater problems “long predate the existence of AWS (Amazon Web Services).” However, if Amazon was aware of the area’s challenges in ensuring adequate safe drinking water for its residents, it begs the question why the company did not do more to reduce its impact or why it chose Morrow County in the first place.
Increases in nitrates in drinking water have been linked to rare cancers and an increase in miscarriages. But efforts to limit further pollution and provide residents with safe, clean drinking water are progressing slowly. The limited scope of the response and the fact that 40 percent of the county’s residents live below the poverty line have drawn comparisons to the crisis in Flint, Michigan. Kristin Ostrom, executive director of the water rights advocacy group Oregon Rural Action (ORA), said rolling stone“These are people who have no political or economic power, and very little information about the risks.”
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