Here & Now

Nelsonville's Water Woes: A Fight Over Sources of Nitrate

Frederica Freyberg:

On this program last week, we heard from a village whose private well water is contaminated with nitrate. This week, “Here & Now” reporter Nathan Denzin takes us back to Nelsonville to find out where the nitrate is coming from and what residents can do about their contaminated water.

Tarion O’Carroll:

It doesn’t taste any different. It doesn’t look any different. There’s no smell to it. It tastes great.

Nathan Denzin:

But what Tarion O’Carroll found out was his family’s private well water had unsafe nitrate levels, a problem residents in the small village of Nelsonville in Portage County learned about back in 2018. The two contributors under the microscope manure from farm animals or septic systems that leak human waste. Portage County water resource specialist Jen McNelly says scientific water testing showed nitrates are largely coming from agriculture.

Jen McNelly:

There’s some role that septic systems are playing but probably not a by and large the largest contributing source of it.

Nathan Denzin:

Enter Gordondale Farms, a concentrated animal feeding operation or CAFO of about 1,200 cows and 5,000 acres just outside of Nelsonville. Its owner, Kyle Gordon, and his family have been farming this land near Nelsonville since 1900.

Kyle Gordon:

I think we have to be really careful when we talk about the science shows. We would really like to see more research on that. They seem to have dismissed septic.

Nathan Denzin:

Gordon says he does accept farming can impact drinking water but he’s not convinced his own farm is.

Kyle Gordon:

Our take on the nitrates from our standpoint is our farm has always had a nutrient management plan since 1981. We followed every regulation that’s been put forth to us. So to be honest, it is quite a puzzle. Where is it coming from? Like, what is the deal?

Nathan Denzin:

By all accounts, Gordondale Farms has followed every DNR nitrate regulation and in recent years gone further. In most plots near the village, Gordon says his farm now plants alfalfa or Italian rye grass which soak up more nitrate in soil than corn. County water officials say despite Gordon’s efforts and abiding by nitrate regulations, agriculture remains the likely culprit, at least in part because DNR rules don’t account for the sandy soils in the region. Also water flow itself affects what kind of waste, agricultural or septic, is ending up in wells. Pete Arntsen is a hydrologist for a regional environmental group.

Pete Arntsen:

Because of the hydrogeology, that water from the septic system passes above all the wells and discharges to the Tomorrow River and really isn’t the issue.

Nathan Denzin:

Because wells draw from groundwater, contamination can come from miles away and take years to end up in the drinking water. Agricultural practices, like the ones Gordon has turned to, can reduce the nitrates in private wells. But according to scientist George Kraft, that can also take years, even decades.

George Kraft:

I think we’d be almost out of the woods, significantly in 8, 10 years and maybe mostly or entirely in 2025.

Nathan Denzin:

In August, the DNR told Gordondale Farms it had to install three monitoring wells on its property. Gordon is fighting that in court. For its part, the village also hopes to use a quarter million dollars in federal funds to install its own monitoring wells. So fights over the monitoring wells and who is at fault for the contamination is fracturing the community.

Lisa Anderson:

I would say that a lot of people are angry.

Nathan Denzin:

Lisa Anderson is a clean water advocate who lives in Nelsonville.

Lisa Anderson:

We have been accused of having an agenda. We’ve been targeted on social media.

Nathan Denzin:

Tempers are definitely high.

Kyle Gordon:

I’m sure everyone knows what the finger is, right?

We either get a plugged nose or we get a finger. The sad part, we’re busy fighting each other. I understand clean water is everyone’s right, but if you are going to live out here in paradise, it’s your responsibility to take care of your well and take care of your septic system.

Lisa Anderson:

To spend $10,000 on a well for most of us is a major expense and many can’t afford it. And I think many of us feel like why should we have to?

Nathan Denzin:

Gordon also says he can’t afford the monitoring wells he is ordered to dig and it could put him out of business. Village residents say they don’t want that. They just want clean water.

Tarion O’Carroll:

I’m not anti-ag. Let’s just get that out of the way. It’s not the farmer at all. They are working as hard as they can to make a good living and that’s fair.

Nathan Denzin:

Still, residents say the state should impose new regulations for the Central Sands region to protect the groundwater.

Tarion O’Carroll:

The rule is the problem. So the DNR needs to step up and fix this issue in my mind.

Nathan Denzin:

For “Here & Now,” I’m Nathan Denzin in Nelsonville.

Frederica Freyberg:

A decision whether Gordon should pay for construction of monitoring wells on his property is expected in court over the next few months.