内容来源：https://www.theverge.com/news/834151/amazon-data-centers-oregon-cancer-miscarriage

内容总结：

俄勒冈州莫罗县——这片以大型农场和食品加工厂闻名的土地，如今正因亚马逊数据中心与农业活动的叠加效应陷入饮用水危机。调查显示，该地区饮用水硝酸盐含量严重超标，已导致当地居民癌症与流产发病率异常攀升。

据《滚石》杂志披露，亚马逊数据中心每年从地下含水层抽取数千万加仑水用于设备冷却，这些用水随后被输送到港口污水处理系统。尽管亚马逊未直接使用硝酸盐，但其冷却流程加剧了污染循环：当已受污染的地下水流经服务器吸热后，部分水分蒸发而硝酸盐残留，使得回流至污水处理系统的水体污染物浓度骤增，部分样本检测值高达56ppm，超出俄勒冈州安全标准八倍。

面对质疑，亚马逊发言人丽莎·莱万多斯基否认企业存在实质影响，强调用水量仅占系统极小比例，并称地下水问题早在亚马逊入驻前就已存在。但环保组织指出，该县40%居民生活在贫困线以下，缺乏政治经济话语权与风险认知能力，迟缓的应对进度与有限的治理措施，使这场危机与密歇根州弗林特水危机形成令人痛心的呼应。

中文翻译：

俄勒冈州莫罗县不仅是大型农场和食品加工厂的聚集地，还坐落着多座亚马逊数据中心。如今有专家指出，这种产业并存模式正导致饮用水硝酸盐浓度达到惊人水平，进而推高当地癌症与流产发病率。

数据中心或成健康威胁推手
亚马逊公司可能正在加剧莫罗县饮用水硝酸盐超标危机。《滚石》杂志调查披露，尽管亚马逊未直接使用硝酸盐冷却数据中心，但其运营却加速了居民饮用水源——下乌马蒂拉盆地含水层的污染。由于废水管理不善、沙质土壤特性及物理作用共同影响，部分水井的硝酸盐浓度已高达73ppm，达到州安全标准（7ppm）的10倍，联邦限值的7倍。

《滚石》报道指出："专家认为亚马逊的入驻加剧了这一进程。数据中心每年从含水层抽取数千万加仑水冷却设备，随后将这些水排入港区污水处理系统。"其结果是富含硝酸盐的废水被灌溉至农田，而疏松的土壤很快饱和，致使更多硝酸盐渗入含水层。

更严重的是，亚马逊持续抽取本已超标的污染水进行冷却：当这些水体流经服务器系统吸收热量时，部分水分蒸发而硝酸盐残留，导致浓度进一步提升。经数据中心循环返回污水处理系统的水体污染加剧，平均浓度可达56ppm，超出俄勒冈安全标准八倍。

亚马逊方面对此提出异议。发言人丽莎·莱万多夫斯基称报道"存在误导性与失实陈述"，并强调"我们设施取用和排放的水量仅占整个水系统的极小比例，远未达到影响水质的关键程度"。她同时指出当地地下水问题"在亚马逊云服务入驻前早已存在"，但若企业事先知晓居民饮用水安全困境，其选址决策与减排措施难免引发质疑。

硝酸盐浓度上升已与罕见癌症及流产病例激增建立关联，然而污染防控与清洁饮水供应措施却进展缓慢。应对范围的局限性及该县40%居民生活在贫困线下的现状，令人联想到密歇根州弗林特水危机。水资源倡导组织"俄勒冈乡村行动"执行主任克里斯汀·奥斯特罗姆坦言："这些居民既无政治经济话语权，也缺乏对风险的认知能力。"

英文来源：

Morrow County, Oregon is home to mega farms and food processing plants. But it’s also home to several Amazon data centers. And now, some experts believe, that combination is leading to an alarmingly high concentration of nitrates in the drinking water that is driving up cancer and miscarriage rates in the area.
Data centers in Oregon might be helping to drive an increase in cancer and miscarriages
Amazon could be accelerating the dangerous levels of nitrates in Morrow County’s drinking water.
Amazon could be accelerating the dangerous levels of nitrates in Morrow County’s drinking water.
Rolling Stone’s exposé details how Amazon, despite not using any dangerous nitrates to cool its data centers, is accelerating the contamination of the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer, which residents rely on for drinking water. It’s a combination of poor wastewater management, sandy soil, and good old physics that has led to nitrate concentrations in drinking water as high as 73 ppm (parts per million) in some wells, which is 10 times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit.
According to Rolling Stone, “experts say Amazon’s arrival supercharged this process. The data centers suck up tens of millions of gallons of water from the aquifer each year to cool their computer equipment, which then gets funneled to the Port’s wastewater system.” The result is that more nitrate-laden wastewater gets pumped onto area farms. But the porous soil saturates quickly and more nitrates make their way into the aquifer.
This is exacerbated when Amazon then pulls this contaminated water, which is already over federal legal limits for nitrates, up to cool its data centers:
When that tainted water moves through the data centers to absorb heat from the server systems, some of the water is evaporated, but the nitrates remain, increasing the concentration. That means that when the polluted water has moved through the data centers and back into the wastewater system, it’s even more contaminated, sometimes averaging as high as 56 ppm, eight times Oregon’s safety limit.
Amazon, of course, disputes this narrative. Spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told Rolling Stone that, the story was “misleading and inaccurate,” and that, “the volume of water our facilities use and return represents only a very small fraction of the overall water system — not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.”
Levandowski also said that the area’s groundwater problems “significantly predate AWS’ (Amazon Web Services) presence.” Though, if Amazon was aware of the area’s challenges in securing enough safe drinking water for its residents, it raises questions about why the company hasn’t done more to mitigate its impact or why it even chose Morrow County in the first place.
The rise in nitrates in the drinking water has been linked to a surge in rare cancers and miscarriages. But efforts to limit further contamination and provide residents with safe, clean drinking water have been slow to materialize. The limited scope of the response and the fact that 40 percent of the county’s residents live below the poverty line has drawn comparisons to the crisis in Flint, Michigan. Kristin Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action (ORA), a water rights advocacy group, told Rolling Stone, “These are people who have no political or economic power, and very little knowledge of the risk.”