Morrow County, Oregon is home to mega farms and food processing plants. But it is also home to several Amazon data centers. Some experts now believe this combination is leading to alarmingly high nitrate levels in drinking water, which is causing an enhance in cancer and miscarriage rates in the region.
the exposé details how Amazon, although it does not exploit any hazardous nitrates to frigid its data centers, is accelerating the contamination of the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer that residents rely on for drinking water. It’s a combination of destitute wastewater management, sandy soil and good aged physics that has led to some wells having nitrate concentrations in drinking water as high as 73 ppm (parts per million), which is 10 times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times .
According to “experts say the arrival of Amazon has accelerated this process. Data centers siphon tens of millions of gallons of water from the aquifer each year to cool computer equipment, which is then directed to the Port’s sewage system.” As a result, more nitrate-containing wastewater is pumped to nearby farms. However, the porous soil quickly becomes saturated and more nitrates leach into the aquifer.
The situation is made worse when Amazon then takes contaminated water, which already exceeded federal allowable nitrate limits, to cool its data centers:
When contaminated water flows through data centers to absorb heat from server systems, some of the water evaporates but nitrates remain, increasing the concentration. This means that contaminated water flowing through data centers back into sewers is even more polluted, sometimes reaching an average of 56 ppm, or eight times Oregon’s safety limit.
Amazon, of course, challenges this narrative. This was announced by spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski that the story was “misleading and misleading” and that “the volume of water used and returned by our facilities represents only a very petite portion of the overall water system – not enough to have any significant impact on water quality.”
Lewandowski also said that in the area “far predates the presence of AWS (Amazon Web Services).” While Amazon recognized the challenges the area faced in providing residents with enough safe drinking water, it begs the question why the company didn’t do more to ensure and why he chose Morrow County in the first place.
The enhance in nitrate content in drinking water has been associated with an enhance in nitrate consumption i poronienia. But efforts to reduce further contamination and provide residents with unthreatening, pristine drinking water are sluggish to bear fruit. The restricted response and the fact that 40 percent of the county’s residents live below the poverty line have been compared to the crisis in Flint, Michigan. Kristin Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action (ORA), a water rights group, said “These are people who have no political or economic power and have very little knowledge of the risks.”