How We Organize for Action
Building people power in rural Oregon
We are Oregon Rural Action - everyday people who simply want clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, and an economy that lets us provide for our families. Eastern Oregon, this place we call home, brings us together around these shared values.
We unite with our neighbors across language and culture to make our communities better for everyone–more safe and healthy, more just and free. We stand together on common ground across our many differences.
Our work is to organize for action by putting everyday people in the lead to testify and raise their voice at decision-making tables, backed by research and facts.
Building Local Leadership
We provide the support and resources for rural people to speak for themselves and stand together.
Maria Colin came to the Lower Umatilla Basin area in the 1980s and spent years working the harvest in eastern Oregon's fields. In 1998, Maria and her husband bought their house in the West Glen neighborhood outside Boardman. They raised their children, and today, three generations of their family live there together.
In West Glen, everyone is dependent on private wells for drinking water and irrigation for their gardens and small pastures. Maria and her family are no different.
In the spring of 2022, Oregon Rural Action tested Maria’s well and found it had more than three times the 10 mg/L federal limit for nitrate contamination in the drinking water (1). Their water was dangerous.
Yet, not just her water was dangerous, so were 100 additional wells near Boardman and Irrigon, including Maria’s West Glen neighborhood. Maria couldn’t believe it.
We gathered neighbors to talk about their water, and Maria offered her house for the first meeting. At first, she attended meetings and mainly listened. Then, in June 2022, she hosted the first bottled water drop following Morrow County’s declaration of a water emergency.
Maria and her neighbors standing together at the state capitol building, fighting for clean, safe water.
Over months, Maria continued to attend meetings to learn about the contamination, why it happened, and what they could do to stop the harm.
By January 2023, Maria and her neighbors sent a letter to the Governor requesting a meeting.
Maria didn't start as an advocate; she became one because her family needed clean water and because she found neighbors willing to fight and stand alongside her.
Growing a Unified Voice
We know a unified, public voice gets results; a single complaint never will.
When the Governor failed to respond to the community’s letter, Maria traveled with her neighbors to meet with legislators and reporters in April 2023. They delivered the contaminated water from their own taps to the Governor's office (6).
Maria and her neighbors asked the Governor to declare a public health emergency.
“The state knew for decades that the problem was getting worse and they didn't tell us. I am very worried about the children because we drank the water,” Maria shared her frustrations.
Maria, with her neighbors in Salem, OR, asking the Governor to declare a public health emergency.
It took another month, but on May 23, 2023, the Governor met with Maria and her neighbors in Boardman (2).
Maria handed the Governor the Safe Rural Water petition and said, “We need your help now.”
The Governor promised Maria and her neighbors she was “not going away” and that she would fix the problem. But the pollution continued.
In November 2023, Maria and her neighbors gave a tour and met with three state legislators who wanted to learn about nitrate contamination. During a meeting, an ORA organizer’s truck marked with clean-water-testing graphics burned outside a neighbor's home in West Glen. Local fire officials called the blaze suspicious due to a flammable accelerant being found at the scene (4).
Maria and her neighbors have faced other intimidation–at work, through the mail, and online. Despite intimidation, our organizers, Maria, and her neighbors are not deterred and continue to organize (7). We know a unified voice is louder than a single one, and it's harder to silence.
Sharing Clear, Honest Research and Information
We believe information is power. That’s why, when the systems meant to support us fail to reach rural communities, we build them ourselves.
Maria and her neighbors asked good questions - how widespread is this pollution, what caused it, and what other neighborhoods have dangerous water and don’t know? Is there any other pollution we should be concerned about? They could not find the answers easily.
When the state's 30 years of pollution data was not reaching the people most affected by it, our staff built a public map of pollution sources using state and federal records.
This information is now more easily accessible.
Today, Maria and her neighbors continue to fight and stand together. They have the knowledge and information to speak for themselves, and they won’t back down until they have access to clean, safe drinking water and the pollution stops.
Because they want their grandchildren to live without fear that their water is poisoning them.
This is how we organize for action. Join us and stand with Maria. Sign up to stay informed.
References and deeper reading:
Morrow County waits months for state money to help with contaminated drinking water (Oregon Capitol Chronicle, July 2022)
Residents in Morrow County demand urgent aid from state for contaminated water (Oregon Capitol Chronicle, September 2022)
Nonprofit organizes Eastern Oregon Latinos one conversation at a time (OPB, November 2022)
Boardman community organizer’s truck catches ‘suspicious’ blaze, local fire rescue says (OPB, November 2023)
"Treat this as the emergency it is," Eastern Oregon residents, advocates call for state action on nitrates in well water (Apple Valley News, 2023))
Groups rally against bill that would exempt Umatilla County from statewide nuclear ban (Oregon Capitol Chronicle, May, 2025)
Near-capacity crowd shows up for West Glen meeting. (Elkhorn Media Group, August 2025)
Morrow County drinking water group discusses possible solutions (Eastern Oregonian, March 2026)
Groups at odds over proposed nitrate pollution rules for farmers in northeast Oregon (Oregon Capitol Chronicle, January 2026)