What is nitrate and could your water be contaminated with it? - KCRA Sacramento

What is nitrate and could your water be contaminated with it?

The colorless, odorless chemical is in rural and urban areas of California

Martha Lorenz lives in the shade of orchards, living in the house where she grew up outside of Ceres, California. She remodeled it in the 1980s.

"Grew up in the country. Almonds, grapes at one time, almonds all around now," Lorenz said. "It was nice back then. Well, it was a lot smaller town, you know. Everything's grown crazy the last several years."

She's always gotten her water from a well.

"I didn't think anything about it as a kid, you know, you just go to the sink and get your glass of water," Lorenz said.

But that all changed two years ago when she found out her drinking water was contaminated with nitrate.

"I would not have known if it wasn't tested," Lorenz told KCRA 3 from the front porch of her house, looking out on the almond trees.

Nitrate is odorless and colorless and can be dangerous. In infants, it can cause "Blue Baby Syndrome," which causes low oxygen in the infant's blood. It can be fatal. Nitrate can also cause cancer if the level in water is higher than 10 milligrams per liter.

"As a kid, (I would) drink out the hose all the time," Gary Shoffner reminisced from his backyard.

Like Lorenz, his house is directly across from a series of orchards.

He had installed a reverse-osmosis system in his house at one time to try and remove contaminants, but his water was still contaminated with nitrate.

"They dumped fertilizer right out there in front of the house," Shoffner said, pointing to the orchards across the road. "Then they take it and they spread it out. Every year, every year.

Nitrate can come from a number of sources: urban wastewater applied on the land, septic tanks, farm manure, or fertilizer on golf courses or crops.

"Nitrate is not sticking to the soil," UC Davis nitrate expert Thomas Harter explained. "In fact, it doesn't want to be anywhere close to any soil particles. So it sits right in the middle of that water stream. And it's really quickly flushed out if there's water to flush it out, which happens in the winter, at least in Northern California."

Harter said that climate change and extreme weather can make contamination worse. The key, he said, is balance: allowing those crops to take up more nitrogen before flooding or over-irrigating. That way, there aren't any nutrients left in the soil at summer's end.

"Then winter can come and all that rain can come and we can do all that managed aquifer recharge on top of it," Harter said, "and not have to worry about large residual amounts of nitrate that are in the soil."

Nitrate contamination is often thought of as a rural problem, but here in California, it is urban as well. Maps of Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties show bright red areas with nitrate contamination so bad the water is unsafe to drink.

It's a problem statewide, and the contaminated water makes its way into populated areas, not just farm and ag fields.

But there is help.

The Valley Water Collaborative is a partnership between the ag industry, local government, and water agencies. They use state grants to help people get safe water.

"Our program is totally free, they get a free well test, they get the results free," said Parry Klassen with the collaborative. "When we determine they're above the drinking water standard. They get free bottled water, I dare say forever."

That's how Shoffner gets his water.

"Takes us about eight days to go through a bottle," he said, pointing to the empty bottles stacked in his garage.

Lorenz is part of a pilot program getting water another way. It's piped into her house.

"I have a spigot at the kitchen sink. Just turn the tap on, and the water comes out," she said, pulling a glass and filling it from a second spout on her sink.

The system is similar to one used by the military in desert climates. It takes humidity out of the air, condenses it, adds minerals to make it like tap water, and pipes it into the house.

If the system is reliable and works well, it could be a solution for more people.

Still, Klassen said that it's a temporary fix for a larger problem, but creative solutions will hopefully get the water cleaner.

"It's all well water," Klassen said. "That's what we rely on for drinking water. So yeah, we've got to protect that resource for sure. And also ensure that people that are here have access to safe drinking water."

The Valley Water Collaborative only services portions of Stanislaus County, but they are looking to expand and other areas will be covered by the end of 2024.

Is your property near a nitrate-impacted well? Check in the interactive map below.