Dangerous nitrate pollution has contaminated the groundwater that supplies private drinking water wells and public water utilities in several agricultural regions across the United States, posing a significant threat to people's health. A new report from the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) indicates that this problem has reached Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore, an area that's home to hundreds of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and millions of chickens.
Nitrates are a compound formed when nitrogen, largely from manure and fertilizer, breaks down. When manure is overapplied or mismanaged, rainfall or irrigation can cause nitrates to trickle down through soil into groundwater resources. Tainted Tap: Nitrate Pollution, Factory Farms, and Drinking Water in Maryland and Beyond notes that a single poultry CAFO raising 82,000 laying hens can produce 2,800 tons of manure a year, more than three times the amount produced by the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore each year.
Though private well testing data is limited, our investigation found indicators that pollution associated with CAFOs is contaminating the groundwater that residents rely on for their drinking water. Since nitrates are colorless, tasteless, and odorless, most families don't even know that it's in their water. We examined currently available data in Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset counties and found:
Drinking water contaminated with nitrates can contribute to a host of health problems, including certain types of cancers, pregnancy complications, and blue baby syndrome, a condition that can be fatal to infants. Cancer (especially colorectal cancer) and infant mortality rates in Lower Eastern Shore counties are among the highest in Maryland. Research shows these conditions are associated with consuming nitrates in drinking water.
These findings are troubling on their own, but they raise larger questions. What don't we know about nitrate contamination in private wells and public water sources on the Lower Eastern Shore? Are health hazards lurking just beneath the surface, unknown and unaddressed because of a lack of testing and transparency? Are these risks disproportionately impacting communities of color and low-income families? Additional investigation and far more testing are needed to determine the extent of nitrate pollution and its impacts in this region.
Kathy Phillips, Executive Director of the Assateague Coastal Trust and Lower Eastern Shore resident, commented on the issue in her community. "On the Lower Eastern Shore, most of us rely on individual wells for our drinking water, and there is little to no testing required of these wells, nor do our local health agencies expend enough effort to educate the public about the quality of our drinking water. Decades-long land application of animal manure and sludge to our agriculture fields has tainted the groundwater and our wells. Our communities have a right to water that is drinkable and greater effort must be made to reduce the impacts of industrial agriculture on our water, land, and air."
Nitrate pollution from mountains of manure and fertilizer doesn't just impact drinking water sources in Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore. 21 percent of private wells across the United States have reported nitrate contamination, and if periodic well water quality testing was required in every state, that percentage would likely be a lot higher.
The federal Safe Drinking Water Act doesn't protect private well owners from nitrates or other types of pollution, and Maryland and numerous other states aren't doing enough to protect their residents from nitrates in their drinking water. In a nationwide comparison of protective policies and programs for private wells, we found that Maryland ranked among the five states with the fewest policies. No state in the country requires periodic testing of private well water, and only a handful offer lower-cost test kits for families who want to test their water on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, nitrates cannot be removed from water through boiling or chemical disinfection and require costlier treatment systems like reverse osmosis. Well owners in Maryland and beyond are generally expected to take the safety of their drinking water into their own hands, even though many do not have the financial or technical means to do so. This results in disparate impacts on lower-income families who may not be able to afford testing or household water treatment systems.
To better protect Marylanders from nitrates, we offer a set of recommendations, including the following:
You can find additional recommendations and the full text of Tainted Tap on our website. You can also help us spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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Darya Minovi, Katlyn Schmitt | October 21, 2020
Dangerous nitrate pollution has contaminated the groundwater that supplies private drinking water wells and public water utilities in several agricultural regions across the United States, posing a significant threat to people's health. A new report from the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) indicates that this problem has reached Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore, an area that's home to hundreds of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and millions of chickens.
James Goodwin | October 19, 2020
For many of us, the prospect of a Supreme Court with Judge Amy Coney Barrett giving conservatives a solid 6-3 supermajority is nightmare fuel. The consequences extend beyond hot-button social issues, such as women's reproductive rights or individual access to affordable health care. If confirmed, Barrett would likely spur the aggressive pro-business agenda that the Court has pursued under the auspices of Chief Justice John Roberts. A key item on that agenda is overturning something called Chevron deference, which some business groups have made a top priority in their broader campaign to bring about, as former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon put it, the "deconstruction of the administrative state."
James Goodwin | October 15, 2020
Recently, the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR) launched its Beyond 12866 initiative, which seeks to promote progressive regulatory reform as a key component of the progressive movement’s efforts to build a more socially just and equitable America. To accomplish this goal, though, we must come to grips with how the regulatory system is perpetuating racial injustice and reinforcing race-based inequities. In a new web article, I take this first step by sketching out some of the ways in which cost-benefit analysis has contributed to structural racism in the broader regulatory system.
Darya Minovi | October 5, 2020
Amidst the president and First Lady testing positive for COVID-19, an embarrassing spectacle of a presidential "debate," and a pandemic that has now claimed more than 200,000 lives in the United States and 1 million worldwide, the West Coast wildfires have lost the attention of the national news cycle. But California and nearby states are still very much ablaze.
James Goodwin | October 1, 2020
In a previous post, I discussed the essentially undemocratic ways that conservatives have come to the brink of a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court and examined one significant implication for regulatory policy: the likely effect on the Court's view on Chevron deference. In this second post, I explore several other ways the Court could undermine the essential democratic character of the regulatory system.
James Goodwin | September 30, 2020
Last week, Matthew Yglesias published an important piece at Vox explaining the many ways conservatives have succeeded in exploiting fundamentally undemocratic features of our constitutional structure of government to advance their policy agenda. This strategy will have reached its grotesque culmination if they manage to seat Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the U.S. Supreme Court. He’s rightfully angry about the situation -- as should we all be -- but the story he tells, thorough and infuriating as it is, misses an important point: It could actually get much worse.
Michele Janin | September 28, 2020
As many of our allies and supporters know, CPR is now in the midst of a nationwide search for our next executive director. We're looking for a dynamic leader prepared to guide our nearly 20-year-old organization into its next stage of growth and impact.
David Flores | September 25, 2020
On September 24, CPR and Waterkeeper Alliance convened the first in a series of webinars on climate-driven pollution and chemical disaster. The toxic floodwaters phenomenon only exists because of a set of intersecting policy failures, and it will take a bold and sophisticated community of activists to achieve intersecting reforms that prevent the harm of climate-driven pollution. Panelists Jamie Brunkow, Jordan Macha, and Victor Flatt are but a few within that community of climate and environmental advocates and scholars.
Robert Verchick | September 25, 2020
For the Member Scholars and staff of the Center for Progressive Reform, Justice Ginsburg's passing is a moment for reflection, a time to celebrate her achievements, mourn what has been lost, and gird for what is to come. Because her death has triggered such an outpouring of emotion, we asked the CPR family to offer reflections on her life and legacy and have gathered them on our website. I encourage you to take a few moments to read them.