Science to inform management in the Southern Willamette Valley’s Groundwater Management Area (GWMA)

This presentation will cover ongoing and completed recent research in the GWMA. The primary topics for this presentation will be an analysis of the trends in well water nitrate concentrations from 2006-2018 in the GWMA area, using data from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's water sampling program. The primary finding is that despite a fair amount of attention and effort related to reducing groundwater nitrate contamination, well nitrate concentrations have increased since about 2012. EPA will also present the results of a RARE project that will be completed at the end of FY20 that measured nitrate leaching from production farmland in order to understand how on the ground practices influence nitrate leaching. This presentation will allow EPA to communicate with the local community, including a number of farmers in the area, about the findings, implications and possible explanations for our study results.

Impact/Purpose

EPA CPHEA's Jana Compton was invited to present an update on research ongoing in the Southern Willamette Valley GWMA for the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Local Area Committee for the Upper Willamette. Their focus is agriculture and water quality, and they will be interested in the results from the recent research in the GWMA. This work supports a milestone under SSWR RA6 Product 19-2 "Integrated approaches in community nonpoint source nutrient management".

Citation

Compton, J., J. Renee Brooks, C. Piscitelli, J. Weitzman, AND A. Henning. Science to inform management in the Southern Willamette Valley’s Groundwater Management Area (GWMA). Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Local Area Committee for the Upper Willamette, Monroe, OR, January 29, 2020.