A federal judge Dec. 17 ordered three Yakima County dairies in Central Washington to immediately test area wells for nitrates and provide filters or drinking water to residents.

Judge Thomas O. Rice in Spokane issued the preliminary injunction at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency. Rice ruled the EPA was likely to prove its allegations that the dairies are polluting groundwater.

“The high nitrate levels in the groundwater are an extreme danger to the public’s health,” Rice stated in a written order.

The EPA alleges Cow Palace, DeRuyter and Liberty dairies have not done enough over the past decade to keep manure from contaminating an aquifer supplying drinking water to 56,000 people, with one-third served by wells.

The dairies deny the allegations and say they’ve spent millions of dollars to contain manure, monitor groundwater and provide water to area residents. Liberty Dairy auctioned off its cows in October.

Rice ruled the EPA had presented enough evidence to warrant a preliminary injunction to protect public health.

The dairies will have to test wells within 3.5 miles down gradient of the dairies and provide filters or drinking water to homes with high levels of nitrates. Dairies must provide one gallon of drinking water per day per person.

Rice also ordered Cow Place to immediately test whether a manure lagoon is leaking. The lagoon will have to be emptied. A liner was torn in a windstorm in 2019 while being installed, according to EPA.

The dairy contended in court documents that the liner was repaired and the lagoon is not leaking.

Efforts to obtain comments from dairy attorneys were not immediately successful. The dairies have reduced the number of manure lagoons to 21 and 44 and spent more than $315,000 to provide drinking water in the past five years, according to court records.

Nitrates occur naturally, but are a health risk at high levels, according to EPA. The agency has long targeted dairies for elevated nitrate levels in the Yakima Valley. Other sources of nitrates include fertilizer and septic tanks.

“EPA is committed to continuing its work with public health agencies, community groups and the agriculture industry to address the complex public health challenges of legacy and ongoing nitrate contamination in the Lower Yakima Valley,” EPA Deputy Regional Administrator Dan Opalski said in a statement.

Rice ruled in 2015 that dairy manure was a danger to surrounding residents. Dairies agreed to take actions to monitor and reduce potential pollution.

The EPA filed a new lawsuit in June, claiming the actions have been insufficient. Dairies say the lawsuit is an unwarranted overreach by the agency. A trial is set for March 2026.

In issuing the preliminary injunction, Rice indicated he thinks the EPA will win and that waiting for a trial will endanger public health.

Save Family Farming Executive Director Ben Tindall said the EPA has forced the dairies to spend millions of dollars and jump through “countless hoops.”

“At this point, it appears that nothing these targeted dairies do will ever be good enough to satisfy EPA and Judge Rice,” Tindall said in a statement.