In rural Morrow County, Oregon, a mother holds a glass of tap water and pauses. She’s seen the test results—73 parts per million of nitrates, ten times over the legal limit. She thinks of her two miscarriages, wonders if this water played a role, and sets the glass down untouched.
That hesitation now echoes across thousands of households.​
A High-Desert Farm County Discovers a Silent Crisis Below
Morrow County sits atop the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer, the groundwater source that supplies tens of thousands of people across Oregon’s high plains. For decades, massive farms, sprawling dairies, and food-processing plants have pushed nitrogen-heavy runoff deep into the soil.
By 1990, the area was officially designated a critical groundwater management zone due to documented nitrate contamination. Nobody expected that invisible poison to reach into kitchen taps at such extreme levels—until test results started coming back.​
The Cloud’s Water Footprint
Over the past decade, Amazon Web Services has built a cluster of giant data centers in this remote county, drawing on the very same aquifer that fills household wells. Public filings reveal these facilities together pump tens of millions of gallons of groundwater annually to keep servers cool.
To most people, the connection was invisible—until November 2025, when Rolling Stone connected the dots, and residents learned their drinking water was also Amazon’s coolant.​
How Evaporative Cooling Concentrates Existing Nitrates
Servers generate immense heat. AWS cools them by cycling water through evaporative systems, where some liquid turns to vapor and heat escapes with it. The nitrates already present in the contaminated groundwater don’t evaporate; they remain behind in the cooling water.
A water sample entering the system at 20 ppm leaves it at approximately 56 ppm—roughly three times more concentrated than when it arrived.​
From Server Halls to Farm Sprinklers to Family Taps
The concentrated wastewater exits the data centers and flows to the Port of Morrow’s treatment system, where it’s mixed with other industrial effluent, stored in large lagoons, then sprayed onto farm fields as fertilizer. The sandy soil characteristic of the region doesn’t filter or stop the liquid; it allows it to percolate underground.
Within weeks, that same enriched water can move back down into the Lower Umatilla Basin—the aquifer where families draw their drinking water.​
What Legal Limits Actually Mean
Oregon’s safety ceiling is 7 parts per million. The federal EPA guideline is 10 ppm. According to Rolling Stone’s investigation and regional reporting, some household wells in the basin are testing at 73 ppm.
That’s not a laboratory abstraction—that’s a mother mixing baby formula with water ten times over the legal danger zone, a farmer watering livestock, a family cooking dinner without knowing what’s dissolved in their water.​
Residents Report Health Concerns Amid Water Contamination Crisis
According to Rolling Stone’s November 2025 investigation, residents and health advocates in Morrow County report an “unusual rise” in miscarriages and rare cancers—particularly non-Hodgkin lymphoma—among families relying on contaminated wells.
However, no official state or federal health agency has yet released comprehensive epidemiological data documenting whether disease rates in Morrow County have actually increased above historical baseline levels. ​
What Published Research Shows About Nitrate Exposure
A 1996 case-control study by Ward et al. in Epidemiology found that long-term exposure to high levels of nitrate in community drinking supplies (≥4 mg/L) was associated with doubled risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in one Nebraska population. However, a 2020 meta-analysis examining multiple studies found no significant overall association between nitrate consumption and NHL risk, though associations with nitrite (a compound nitrates can convert to) were noted.
Some research has documented associations between elevated nitrate exposure and reproductive outcomes, including preterm delivery, though a 2023 systematic review indicated evidence remains sparse, sometimes conflicting, and most studies examined exposure levels of 5–25 mg/L. ​
A Contamination Crisis Decades in the Making
The nitrate problem in the Lower Umatilla Basin predates AWS by decades. The area was designated a critical groundwater management zone in 1990 due to documented contamination from the use of agricultural fertilizers, manure from large feedlots, and food-processing wastewater.
This is a farm-driven pollution crisis with a 35-year history. AWS did not create the original contamination, but according to environmental advocates and hydrologists, it entered an already-stressed system.​
Years of Wastewater Violations
Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality has cited the Port of Morrow for over 2,000 permit violations since 2015, according to DEQ enforcement records. In June 2024, DEQ issued a $727,000 penalty for 800 violations related to improper wastewater application rates.
The port’s practice of spraying nitrogen-rich wastewater on farm fields, particularly during non-growing seasons in past years, allowed nitrates to percolate more readily back into the aquifer.
How AWS Operations May Have Intensified Existing Pollution
Environmental and hydrogeological experts cited in Rolling Stone’s investigation describe AWS’s cooling operations as a potential “contamination amplifier.” The farms and food processors created the original nitrate burden; AWS did not introduce new nitrogen compounds.
However, according to expert analysis in available reporting, by withdrawing tens of millions of gallons of already-contaminated groundwater annually, concentrating nitrates through evaporative cooling, and routing that enriched wastewater back through the Port of Morrow’s system, AWS may have accelerated the rate at which nitrates move through and contaminate the aquifer.​
Amazon’s Response and the Core Dispute
According to Rolling Stone’s November 2025 reporting, an Amazon spokesperson, Lisa Levandowski, stated that the company’s water usage is “only a very small fraction of the basin’s total” and that groundwater contamination “significantly predates AWS’s presence.”
Environmental advocates and residents counter that even a “small fraction” of water, when concentrated through evaporative cooling and returned to an overloaded wastewater system, can have a significant impact on aquifer contamination rates. ​
Who Faces the Greatest Risk
Approximately 40 percent of Morrow County residents live below the federal poverty line. Many households in the contaminated zone rely on private wells and lack the financial resources to drill deeper wells, install advanced home treatment systems, or relocate.
This creates a situation where the most economically vulnerable residents bear the greatest exposure to contaminated water and have the fewest options to protect themselves.​
Long-Term Planning
Oregon officials have acknowledged the crisis and arranged bottled-water deliveries for some households with the most contaminated wells. The state has launched a Nitrate Reduction Plan and related groundwater reforms.
Residents report that many affected families are left to their own devices, and official documents indicate that comprehensive clean-water infrastructure solutions will require years and substantial state investment, with no firm timeline yet established.​
Flint and Rural Water Justice Concerns
Advocates have drawn comparisons to Flint, Michigan, noting that both cases involve low-income communities with limited political leverage facing water contamination tied to infrastructure and industrial practices. Rural Action, an Oregon advocacy group, has emphasized that rural residents often lack political or economic influence to demand rapid remediation.
The Morrow County situation raises questions about whether rural agricultural and industrial communities receive adequate infrastructure investment and environmental protection compared to urban areas.​
Regulatory Enforcement Intensifies
Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality has stepped up enforcement against the Port of Morrow, issuing penalties and demanding improvements to its wastewater management systems. Lawmakers are debating enhanced nitrate regulations across the basin, targeting both agricultural and industrial water users.
Simultaneously, demand for data center capacity continues to grow due to cloud computing, AI, and streaming services, creating ongoing political and economic pressure to expand the very infrastructure now under scrutiny.​
Class Actions and Legal Accountability Efforts
In February 2024, attorney Steve Berman filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of Morrow County residents against the Port of Morrow, Lamb Weston, and agricultural operators. In March 2024, Berman and co-counsel Michael Bliven issued an RCRA notice to Amazon regarding wastewater handling practices.
Environmental groups and local organizers continue to pursue compensation, regulatory reform, and guaranteed access to clean water for all residents relying on the affected aquifer.​
Tech Infrastructure and Hidden Water Costs
The Morrow County situation raises a broader question about the actual environmental footprint of cloud computing and data center infrastructure. While data centers are marketed as “clean” and energy-efficient compared to other industries, they can be significant water consumers.
In regions already burdened by legacy agricultural pollution or weak regulatory infrastructure, the addition of large water-consuming facilities may intensify existing contamination problems—even without those facilities introducing new pollutants.​
Unresolved Questions and Next Steps
Multiple critical questions remain unanswered: Will official health surveillance systems document whether disease rates in Morrow County have actually risen? Will AWS reduce its water footprint or accept greater responsibility for amplifying existing contamination? Will Oregon invest in comprehensive aquifer remediation?
Morrow County families, meanwhile, continue managing daily life with contaminated wells while awaiting answers and solutions.​
Sources:
Rolling Stone investigation on AWS data centers and Oregon nitrate contamination, December 2025
​Oregon Department of Environmental Quality – Lower Umatilla Basin / Nitrate Groundwater Management Area and enforcement actions against Port of Morrow
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U.S. EPA – Petition for Emergency Action for the Lower Umatilla Basin under the Safe Drinking Water Act
​Peer-reviewed studies on drinking-water nitrate, pregnancy loss, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (e.g., American Journal of Epidemiology, Environmental Health Perspectives)​​