Real Estate Transaction (RET) data analysis: Discussion with Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Environmental Council

The state of Oregon is one of three states in the US, along with New Jersey and Rhode Island, that requires private well testing at the point of a real estate transaction (RET). Since 1987, Oregon Health Authority has been collecting this data. In 2012-2014, OSU PhD student Brenda Hoppe published several papers summarizing these data and analyzing the spatial patterns. In 2020, EPA scientist and OSU MS student gained access to these data to update the analysis of spatial and temporal trends in these data. This presentation represents an early initial analysis of the data, in order to have a conversation with the staff at Oregon Health Authority and the Oregon Environmental Council. Combining these data with real estate sales information will help to understand potential underreporting, and the database and analysis will be useful to the state of Oregon.

Impact/Purpose

EPA's Jana Compton and EPA student volunteer and OSU Masters of Public Health student Natalie Wenzlick met with Oregon Health Authority staff to discuss their preliminary examination of the state’s Real Estate Transaction (RET) dataset. EPA has been working with the dataset to examine the spatial and temporal patterns in nitrate concentrations from 1987-2020, and will discuss the initial results with OHA staff members.

Citation

Wenzlick, N. AND J. Compton. Real Estate Transaction (RET) data analysis: Discussion with Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Environmental Council. Discussion with Oregon Health Authority, Virtual meeting via Teams, OR, September 17, 2020.