south Deschutes: voting on the nitrate fix

There are strong opinions on both sides of the conversation regarding the ballot initiative called the groundwater ordinance referendum. For the uninitiated, a clear and brief description of the situation can be found here.

I'd like to think I'm a well informed voter, but there are a lot of things going on behind this ballot.

• What is the real relationship between nitrates and health problems?
• What is the relationship between nitrates in groundwater and environmental problems?
• Is nitrate mitigation going to protect the health of groundwater in more general ways?
• If nitrate pollution is a real threat to health or the environment, what regulation is appropriate?
• Why is this vote in front of us, after extended study and an ordinance passed by the county board of commissioners? Is it appropriate to have the public decide on such a technical issue?
• What alternative solutions exist?

Any post that tried to address all of these issues would be long and probably set off a firestorm. I only want to comment on the first item on my list of questions. Unfortunately, even with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, I am confused about how to answer this one.

Nitrate can look like a real problem, if you consider the following health effects, pilfered from the EPA consumer fact sheet on nitrates/nitrites:

Short-term: Excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have caused serious illness and sometimes death. The serious illness in infants is due to the conversion of nitrate to nitrite by the body, which can interfere with the oxygen-carrying capacity of the childs blood. This can be an acute condition in which health deteriorates rapidly over a period of days. Symptoms include shortness of breath and blueness of the skin.

Long-term: Nitrates and nitrites have the potential to cause the following effects from a lifetime exposure at levels above the MCL: diuresis, increased starchy deposits and hemorrhaging of the spleen.

Then there is this quote, pulled from a web page of the department of health and human services:

A large proportion of hemoglobin in young infants is in the form of fetal hemoglobin. Fetal hemoglobin is more readily oxidized to methemoglobin (MHg) by nitrites than is adult hemoglobin. In addition, in infants, NADH-dependent methemoglobin reductase, the enzyme responsible for reduction of induced MHg back to normal hemoglobin, has only about half the activity it has in adults.

But last week I just happened across this, from American Scientist, a publication of Sigma Xi that I respect an awful lot.

Just answering the first concern about nitrates: are they a real health concern? is proving difficult. I could vote based on the precautionary principle, but I realize the economic impact to families living in that area would be huge.

The more I have to vote on these voter initiatives, the less I like the initiative system.