Some naysayers had not expected Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to show up in Boardman. When she did, they figured she would utter mere platitudes.

Instead, the Morrow County residents on Wednesday heard Kotek’s commitment to fixing their dangerously unhealthy well water: “We take this very seriously. And I’m not going to stop until you have what you need.”

“I’m impressed and I’m optimistic,” participant Raymond Akers told me after the evening meeting. Organized by Oregon Rural Action, it was conducted in English and Spanish. About 50 people participated.

Water – quality, quantity and distribution – is the overarching environmental issue throughout the West; indeed, for much of the globe. Yet Oregon’s issues drew little notice while communities such as Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, gained national notoriety.

For three decades, nitrates have contaminated groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin. Municipal water systems there are deemed safe, but many residents, livestock and pets in the region depend on well water for drinking, cooking and bathing. Nitrates in some wells exceed federal safety standards by four to five times, and too few wells have been tested. 

One after another, participants in the community meeting told Kotek about miscarriages and deaths, tumors and kidney failures, and other health issues they believe are linked to bad water. They worried about their grandchildren accidentally drinking the water despite warnings not to. They spoke of filter systems that seemed worthless and of rationing the bottled water provided by government to eligible households.

They criticized the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and critiqued the state’s well-testing registration as being too complicated. They predicted that Kotek’s $6.2 million budget request would be far too little to address the issues.

The governor listened.

“It’s really hard to hear about the illnesses. And we don’t know if there’s a connection, but we need to find out,” Kotek said.

Neither Gov. Kate Brown nor representatives from the state’s water-quality agencies participated in a community meeting last September, despite being invited. Kotek showed up and brought along key staff, including the acting director of the state Department of Agriculture, Lauren Henderson.

“We have to fix this,” Kotek said. “It’s a new day, new governor.”

Few in the audience likely had voted for Democrat Kotek. Morrow County is Republican country, where Democrats are outnumbered more than 2-1 and Republican Christine Drazan won nearly three-fourths of the votes for governor. 

Residents long have felt ignored by officialdom in Salem.

“I appreciate that little bit of money and work that is being done currently to address the problem. No, actually, I’m not sure anything is being done to take care of or address this problem. If it is, it’s not visible to us,” Akers told Kotek. “We have been let down by state leadership here on the east side for many, many years – no effort being made to understand us.” 

Accompanied by first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, the governor was in Eastern Oregon this week on her One Oregon Listening Tour. She has visited 11 counties, having pledged to visit all 36 during her first year in office.

Homelessness and housing were a main topic in most counties. Morrow and Umatilla county meetings highlighted water quality, including taking Kotek to a residence to test its well water for nitrates.

 “Very early on, the first couple of weeks of my administration, I started asking questions. What are we doing? Who’s in charge? What are the agencies doing? And while there has been some response from the state, it wasn’t as coordinated as I wanted to see,” Kotek said at the evening meeting.

“I want you to know as your governor that I’m going to pay attention. I’m going to make sure the agencies are working together. I’m going to make sure we’re solving the problem and working with you in the community to not only make sure you understand what’s going on, but all your neighbors who have not yet understood what the danger is.” 

Participants told me about sitting through similar sessions with Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, Morrow County commissioners and others. This meeting was better, according to Joe Rupe.

“I’m a little more optimistic but I’m not going to hold my breath,” he said. “I’d like to see more boots on the ground.”  

Side note: State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, joined Kotek for some meetings, including a working lunch with community leaders. Hansell was excused from attending the Senate session Wednesday in Salem.

Floor sessions Wednesday and Thursday wound up being canceled for lack of a quorum, caused by several Republican and Independent senators boycotting. Speaking to reporters Wednesday in Boardman, Kotek said she would not send the Oregon State Police to retrieve the absent senators.

“But what I will say is, I intend to call the Republican leader when I get a second and say, ‘What’s going on?’” Kotek said, referring to Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend. “I’m disappointed that they’re not there.”