Gov. Tina Kotek talks to reporters in January. 

If Oregon is serious about protecting groundwater, it needs to get serious about the septic systems it approves.

It needs to have the best.

In southern Deschutes County, there’s a threatening blend of a high water table, sandy soil, thousands of older septic systems and private wells used for drinking water. Nitrates can contaminate the drinking water, leading to a host of health problems. Water contaminated with nitrates is especially bad for babies.

There is already enough nitrate contamination in that area to cause problems for the future. It gets worse with every flush.

A partial solution is upgrading septic systems. Experts estimate there are more than 7,000 systems that should be upgraded in southern Deschutes County.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has a list of approved septic systems. New ones are about 70% effective in removing nitrates. Older systems may only be 30% effective.

But there are systems that have performed better — even hitting 95%. None are approved in Oregon.

Oregon is not the only state facing problems with septic. There are similar issues across the country. Cape Cod; Suffolk County, New York; around Chesapeake Bay — those are just some of the places wrestling with basic infrastructure to protect the environment.

“We are somehow meeting this generational moment where we have systems that are just not sufficient, where they are not working or where they are definitely not sufficient for growth,” Gov. Tina Kotek told us Tuesday, in a meeting with reporters and editors of EO Media group.

Manufacturers or inventors of the best systems may not want to go through the process of approval in Oregon. It requires money and time. It requires a distribution and installation network. That may “consequently exclude other products and technologies available in other states that may reduce nitrate better,” Antony Vorobyov, a public affairs specialist with DEQ, told us.

Oregon DEQ is a regulatory agency. It is not the right entity to go around the country and try to recruit companies or inventors to offer reasonably-priced, higher-performing septic systems here, as Gov. Kotek said. Still, somebody should be doing it.

This is an issue of clean water, the mess we are leaving behind, and growth. What will Kotek do?