Deep Fixes for Oregon’s Groundwater (That Were Long Overdue)
The 2025 legislative session brought some major wins for Oregon water, most significantly: SB 1154 and HB 3525. These bills come on the heels of nearly a decade of work by OEC, our partners and the legislature to protect groundwater in Oregon. To understand why they’re both such important milestones, we need to go back in time…
With quite a bit of foresight, in 1989, the Oregon legislature passed the Groundwater Quality Management Act, which was designed—or at least intended—to make sure that groundwater quality would be protected just as we protect surface water. Unfortunately, the Act didn’t clearly designate agency roles and responsibilities. So frankly, it wasn’t very effective. We’ve seen the consequences of that in the Lower Umatilla Groundwater Basin (LUBGWMA), where, after 30 years of agency involvement people are still drinking bad water—and more importantly, the water is still being contaminated because we haven’t figured out how to deal with it.
The goal of SB 1154, brought by the Governor’s office, was to improve—not get rid of—the statute. OEC worked closely with the Governor’s office, legislators and other stakeholders as the bill moved through the legislative process. SB 1154 clarifies agency roles, establishes benchmarks for accountability, and sets up a green-yellow-red evaluation system. If an area is “green,” it’s safe. “Yellow” means, “Something might be wrong, let’s pay attention…” The bill lays out how agencies do outreach, voluntary pollution reduction, and education when an area reaches “yellow” status. Once an area is “red,” agencies take stronger steps. In other words, they try outreach and voluntary approaches first, and if those fail, they regulate.
Groundwater pollution can come from agriculture, industry, leaking septic systems, and more. The point of SB 1154 isn’t to point fingers: it’s to trigger outreach and solutions for all the possible pollution sources, no matter who’s responsible. No bill is perfect, but we’ve taken groundwater quality management from the 1900s into the 2000s in a way that can protect Oregonians and Oregon’s water resources.
Throughout our nearly 10 years working on the ground in the LUBGWMA, we were able to connect directly with Oregonians, and learn about their biggest concerns surrounding water. One we often heard was from rural residents: “What if I’m a renter using a domestic well and I don’t even know what’s in my water?” Renters assume the place they’re living in is safe—but it turns out there is nothing requiring a landlord to tell a tenant if the well water is contaminated. Since 2017, we’ve been trying to put something in place to protect renters by requiring landlords to test drinking water from domestic wells for arsenic, nitrates, E.coli and lead, and share the test results with their renters. That way renters can make informed decisions about how to best protect their health and the health of their families.
This session, we worked closely with Representative Hartman to pass HB 3525, which requires landlords to test and report well water quality on their properties. Now, renters who rely on well water will no longer be in the dark about whether or not the water they’re drinking is safe. While the bill ended up requiring testing and disclosure only in groundwater quality management areas, it’s a huge step forward, one we hope to build on in the future.
Between SB 1154, HB 3525, and the groundwater allocation rules OEC worked on last year, we’ve really reshaped how Oregon manages groundwater. But our work isn’t done. We need to look carefully at important issues like aquifer recharge and water reuse. Given changes to precipitation patterns (both timing and amount), we need resilient water management systems in place. And we need to make sure agencies have the tools and funding to implement SB 1154 and HB 3525 along with other water management programs.
OEC has been Oregon’s political voice for the environment since 1968. Learn more about our work at oeconline.org/policy.
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