A new investigation has raised serious concerns about drinking water safety in Morrow County, Oregon, where Amazon operates several data centers alongside large farms and food processing facilities.
According to Rolling Stone, experts now believe this combination is contributing to dangerously high nitrate levels in the region’s groundwater and increasing cases of cancer and miscarriages.
Water Crisis
The Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer supplies drinking water to residents. Some wells now contain nitrate concentrations as high as 73 ppm, ten times Oregon’s legal limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit.
Rolling Stone reports that Amazon does not use nitrates for cooling, but its operations may still worsen contamination through a chain of events tied to wastewater management and the area’s porous soil.
According to experts, Amazon’s data centers pull “tens of millions of gallons” of water from the aquifer each year for cooling its servers. That water then flows into the Port of Morrow’s wastewater system, which already processes nitrate-heavy waste from agriculture. The system pumps the wastewater onto nearby farmland.
Because the soil saturates quickly, more nitrates seep downward into the aquifer instead of being absorbed by crops.
The problem becomes more severe once the polluted water passes through Amazon’s cooling system. Some water evaporates during cooling, but the nitrates remain, which raises the overall concentration. Water returning from the data centers averages nitrate levels as high as 56 ppm, eight times the state safety limit.
Amazon Rejects the Claims
Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski called the story “misleading and inaccurate,” saying the company’s water use represents “only a very small fraction” of the total water system and is “not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.”
She also said groundwater problems “significantly predate AWS’s presence.” That acknowledgment has raised questions about why Amazon chose the region and what steps it has taken to reduce its impact.
Health Concerns and Slow Response
Rising nitrate levels have been linked to an increase in rare cancers and miscarriages in Morrow County. Yet local efforts to address the contamination and provide safe drinking water have moved slowly.
Advocates say the crisis resembles the situation in Flint, Michigan, noting that 40% of the county’s residents live below the poverty line.
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I remember when news outlets were making us feel how these self developed ceos created their own wealth.
When in reality, these tech bros are the worst beings . They steal from everyone to feed their own ego