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  Another year, another Nitrate Pollution Awareness Week. I’ve watched this cycle repeat for more than a decade. It’s time we turned the corner.

   I’ve lived in the Pineland Sands since 1995. Over the years, I’ve watched R.D. Offutt remove forests for new potato fields. Helicopters then spray chemicals that reach our groundwater. The nitrate pollution from their fertilizer is invisible, but I know from our own regular testing that nitrate levels rose over 600x in the 6 years after RDO came in. The water on the south side of our property is now undrinkable, and I know our neighbors are at increased risk of cancer because of it. 

   My wife and I have been fighting for clean water since 2016 as part of the Northern Water Alliance of Minnesota. We’ve documented the contamination, helped with well testing clinics, and repeatedly brought the issue to our representatives and government agencies. We have been dismissed, time and again, while RDO continues to operate without meaningful accountability.

   We’re not short on awareness. We’re short on political will. 

   Groups like the Izaak Walton League and MN Well Owners Organization are stepping in where the government has failed, and I commend their efforts. Testing is important, but it only tells you what’s already in your water. It doesn’t stop nitrate from getting there. The state has known this is a crisis for years. 

   So, to follow up Nitrate Awareness Week, let’s stop the problem at its source. Instead of paying to remove nitrate that shouldn’t be there, join us in demanding enforceable limits on fertilizer overapplication. Write to your lawmakers. Show up. Make noise.

   After all, if you can’t drink the water underneath you, how free are you?

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