Southern Deschutes County has a lot going for it: postage-stamp lots tucked into expanses of Lodgepole pine, lesser-glimpsed views of the Cascades and backroads to many lakes and access points along the Deschutes River.
Its unincorporated areas, where about 18,000 people live, have also long suffered high levels of nitrate in the groundwater. The shallowness of the La Pine aquifer, along with antiquated and decaying septic systems dating to the 1970s, mean high levels of nitrates from human waste have been fouling the aquifer since at least 1982, when the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality first sampled the groundwater.
Deschutes County commissioners and other local elected officials have grappled with the issue for decades. La Pine, Sunriver and the Oregon Water Wonderland development all have respective sewer systems. Yet nearby unincorporated areas still rely on wells and septic systems for their water management needs.
The ongoing nitrate pollution in “South County” is a hot-button issue leading up to the county’s May 19 primary election. In the running for Position #1 is incumbent commissioner and computational scientist Tony DeBone, climate scientist Jamie Collins, and Brooke West, a construction operations manager who filed on March 4. As he wrote in a March 3 op-ed, Collins is vocal about what he describes as chronic inaction by current county commissioners to address nitrate pollution. DeBone, for his part, disagrees with that characterization.
What they both agree on is that nitrate in drinking water is bad. In some parts of the state, such as Umatilla County, nitrate has seeped into groundwater due to over-applications of fertilizer. In the instance of the La Pine aquifer, however, the nitrate comes from the human sewage that has leached from aging septic tanks.
Not just gross, too much nitrate in the blood stream makes it harder for red blood cells to carry oxygen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Folks particularly vulnerable include pregnant women, infants under six months and others with specific health conditions. Prolonged exposure can increase risks of cancer and birth defects.
Addressing the nitrate pollution in southern Deschutes County (and northern Klamath County, which also shares the La Pine aquifer) is a multi-pronged approach that involves installing nitrate-mitigating filters, repairing or replacing antiquated septic tanks and, most costly, installing sewer systems that can serve this unincorporated, rural area. But until 2025, it was nearly impossible to get approval from the state to put a sewer system outside an urban growth boundary without expanding it first.
Collins contends that the current county commission hasn’t done enough to protect folks who draw well water from the aquifer. DeBone, who’s served in Position #1 for four terms since winning election in 2010, says he and fellow commissioners have attempted greatly on the macro level while achieving success on the micro. West’s position on the issue isn’t immediately known; she didn’t reply to several requests for comment, nor does she appear to have a campaign website.
‘A toxic legacy’
A climate scientist, Collins is also a 22-year veteran incident commander for the U.S. Coast Guard. He has directed toxic cleanup after disasters like Hurricane Harvey. As an on-scene coordinator for Oregon DEQ, he also directed a cleanup of 5,500 gallons of spilt biodiesel fuel in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in February 2019. In this capacity, Collins also served as the principal official responsible for hazmat and oil-spill response in Central and Eastern Oregon, directing action on 300 sites.
Beyond new county leadership, Collins says, what southern Deschutes County needs is the implementation of a new legislative tool, provided by the passing of Senate Bill 1154, that lets officials side-step the red tape of the Goal 11 Exception requirement, which is a state law that lets a sewer get installed in an unincorporated area if pollution is demonstrably bad.
Senate Bill 1154, signed by Gov. Tina Kotek last July, adds muscle to the state’s Groundwater Quality Protection Act of 1989. If the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality or the Oregon Health Authority designates a spot as a Ground Water Quality Concern Area, that empowers a team of relevant agencies and authorities (including DEQ or the State Department of Agriculture and Mineral Industries, for example) to appoint a groundwater management committee. Goal 11 Exception requirements, which are much more piecemeal in application (lot by lot, for example) would no longer apply, freeing a county to make a deal with a city, water or wastewater district to provide water or wastewater services for unincorporated residential dwellings.
It’s important to note that SB 1154 only allows services for existing dwellings and includes safeguards against additional growth outside UGBs, says Rory Isbell, the rural lands program director and staff attorney at Central Oregon LandWatch. Isbell says the bill strikes the right balance between public health for existing residents while preventing sprawl on rural farm and forest lands.
“I do think we have a real opportunity with Senate 1154,” Collins said. “The first thing that we have to do is provide every person whose drinking water may be at risk with the means to get the filtration to keep that water safe.”
That would need to happen at the same time as creating a sewer system to serve much of unincorporated South County, Collins says. But a sewer can’t accommodate the more remotely tucked lots, due to the lower density and lack of proximity to the necessary infrastructure. He sees it as a two-part fix.
“The current leadership on the County Commission has walked away from the table,” Collins said. “We still have an opportunity with this new designation to take the first step to not pass a toxic legacy onto our kids.”
Collins says all Deschutes County residents should chip in to cover the exorbitant price tag of connecting a home to a new sewer system — which can cost more than $10,000 — not just residents in South County, which has some of the highest poverty rates in Central Oregon.
“No single funding source is going to solve this — it is going to take a layered approach pulling together resources at every level,” Collins told the Source. “However we structure the financing, it needs to fairly distribute the cost so it doesn’t fall disproportionately on the people least able to pay.”
Rebates & incentives
Current Commissioner DeBone disagrees with Collins’ characterization that county commissioners have been indifferent to South County’s water pollution.
“My opponent is crying bloody murder, like we’re doing something wrong. But I’m really proud of the path that we’re taking,” DeBone told the Source by phone.
DeBone points to the Newberry Neighborhood Fund that allows for land sale proceeds and loan repayments for the La Pine Special Sewer District’s loan, assumed by the City of La Pine through annexation in 2012 to grow sewer services to the Newberry Neighborhood. That loan was paid off in 2022; money from future land sales will go into this fund, with distributions spilling into the Community Development Department’s Groundwater Partnership Fund for reinvestment in South County groundwater protection. That fund has about $150,000, according to the county.
Debone says the County can write checks for anybody who wants to move forward with a subsidized alternative treatment system. Additionally, down the road, if there’s a sewer implementation plan, residents would be able to tap into it.
“The fund lets us invest in prudent ways to protect groundwater outside the city,” he said.
Additionally in place is the Community Development Department’s rebate of up to $3,750 to property owners who retrofit an existing onsite system. That cash comes from land sales in the Newberry Neighborhood and is transferred to the Groundwater Partnership Fund. As of January, the CDD has given out 150 rebates, totaling about $611,000; 12 rebates were issued in 2025, according to the Southern Deschutes County Groundwater Protection Program Annual Report, published last January. In addition, the NeighborImpact Non-Conforming Loan Program lets folks who are disqualified from normal loans because of mortgage delinquency or lack of equity, retrofit or repair conventional septic systems. So far, 17 property owners have taken advantage of this program.
DeBone also points out that two quadrants of the Newberry Neighborhood Land Sales are available. They measure nearly 20 and 18 acres, respectively. A developer signed a prospective purchaser agreement for the smaller lot; the closing date is October, according to the county. The combined sales would add $1.8 million to the Groundwater Partnership Fund.
‘Pushing a boulder uphill’
In February 2016, it looked like the Board of County Commissioners had scored a big victory for South County residents’ water quality.
DeBone was one of the three county commissioners who unanimously adopted Goal 11 Exception, allowing sewers in unincorporated areas. DeBone, who was serving his second term in Position #1, was jubilant.
“Thank you to the citizens’ committee and staff for sticking with it for so many years,” DeBone said from the dais. “This issue got me riled up back in the day and may even be why I wanted to become a county commissioner.”
However, Central Oregon LandWatch challenged that ordinance to the Land Use Board of Appeals, which concurred that the contamination levels did not meet the legal standard of an “imminent and significant threat to public health.” That was among other concerns, including a signaled greenlight toward rapid development of the 11,000 lots found in the 180 square miles that were designated within the sewer exception. LUBA remanded the decision back to Deschutes County.
“It’s like pushing a boulder uphill. Why would this community want to fight this fight if they’re going to be appealed in the state land-use system?” DeBone said, adding that residents voted in 2009 to overturn a 2008 rule passed by county commissioners that required homeowners to spring for spendy alternative treatment systems to mitigate nitrate leaching into the aquifer. Since then, the county has required nitrate-reducing systems on all new properties or new home additions, particularly bathrooms.
In 2024, Deschutes County applied for a grant that would have funneled $10 million to help eligible residents upgrade their onsite wastewater treatment systems to alternative treatment technologies. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declined the application, according to the County’s report.
During the springs of 2023 and 2024, the Oregon DEQ conducted a study of South County wells. The agency found evidence of heightened nitrate levels in some areas and the necessity for nitrate-reducing onsite systems to safeguard the La Pine aquifer.
The study involved surveying 100 domestic wells between Sunriver and La Pine, a region also known at the Southern Deschutes Basin. A part of the statewide Groundwater Quality Monitoring Program, all well owners were told about their results and referred to local and state public health resources to talk about what to do about their situation, according to Oregon DEQ.
Of those 100 wells, 65 had detections of nitrate, although only two wells showed levels above the EPA drinking water standard. Sixty-eight wells showed arsenic. Although none exceeded the EPA’s health-based standard, the agency’s goal-level is zero, because arsenic is a carcinogen. Among other contaminates, manganese was found in 77 wells, with six above the EPA’s secondary recommendation and six above the agency’s health-based recommendation. Lead was also found in 38 wells, but only one had an elevated concentration. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no safe level of lead exposure for children and pregnancies. Pharmaceuticals, such as a certain antibiotic, were found in 16 wells, and a medication for seizures or nerve pain was detected in three wells. As for bacteria, three wells tested positive, but not for E. coli.
The Oregon DEQ says a full report on this study will likely be published later this year. The agency will continue to track with the South County situation and collaborate with local officials on developing long-term solutions.
In the meantime, DeBone also views SB 1154 as a guidepost toward safe drinking water.
“At some point this will come around again and the County can have a policy discussion about what the next steps would be,” DeBone said. “Yes, I support the request [that southern Deschutes County] be designated as an area with groundwater quality concerns. I support protecting the great groundwater that we have.”
This article appears in the Source March 12, 2026.
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