"The dairies at that time were very bad neighbors," said Jean Mendoza, a resident of the Yakima Reservation. The nearby community was keen to avoid the negative impacts faced by others.
"There was one [Sunnyside] family that had built an outdoor swimming pool for their grandchildren... and one of the dairies came in and built a manure lagoon right next to the swimming pool," Mendoza explained.
Discharge from these lagoons into groundwater caused nitrate levels to skyrocket in the drinking water of small towns in the Lower Yakima Valley, which presents significant health risks.
Despite the health repercussions, regulatory changes are hampered by loopholes in drinking water laws and the powerful influence of the agriculture lobby in Congress.
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