Legislature passes Governor’s groundwater protection bill despite criticism it was watered down

Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | June 27, 2025

A groundwater protection bill proposed by Gov. Tina Kotek passed its final vote in the Oregon House Friday and will now go to her desk for signing. The bill passed in the Senate earlier this month.

Kotek said Senate Bill 1154 will provide long overdue updates to the state’s Groundwater Quality Protection Act first passed in 1989, giving state agencies more authority to coordinate and to intervene early in Oregon’s contaminated groundwater areas.

Since 1989, three critical groundwater management areas have been identified in Oregon. They are all still considered to be in critical condition due to nitrate contamination, almost entirely from agricultural fertilizers and animal manure, and none have seen vast improvement in the last two to three decades.