[Vision2020] Groundwater ordinance

[Mark Solomon]

Chris,

It is not the intention of the proposed ordinance to sift the fact 
from fiction of various geologic musings.  The taskforce was 
empaneled by the county commissioners (the local elected officials 
you ask us to trust) and given a specific task: draft an ordinance 
for consideration by the Planning Commission and the Board of 
Commissioners that addresses issues of groundwater protection in the 
Moscow sub-basin.

http://www.latah.id.us/Dept/BOCC/Ordinance285.pdf

It was not intended as the arbiter of geological theorizing although 
we did have our discussions. One appointed member is a professional 
hydrogeologist. I've read more about local hydrogeology in the past 
few years than I ever wanted to. We also heard presentations from 
researchers on this topic from the UI. I've got to say that some of 
the geological theories you post as fact sound remarkably similar to 
those of the Naylor's geologist and are unsupported by either 
published literature or current research. (buried ridges, underground 
river channels, new sources of water) but It isn't my intention to 
argue them on this list. The arguments become very technical quickly 
as in the difference between a buried ridge and a fold.

The point is that water levels in basalt wells in the Moscow 
sub-basin are declining and the county commissioners take their 
responsibility to plan for the future seriously. My review of 
historical City Wanapum well data indicates that of population trends 
continue at the same level as they have traditionally (about 1%/year) 
the City Wanapum wells will show a precipitous decline in water level 
in about 20 years. This time, there won't be a deeper aquifer to go 
to.

I agree: surface water collection for municipal water supply needs to 
be developed. Given the politics of decision-making, infrastructure 
cost and design/engineering/construction times involved, twenty years 
is a good window to work within. In the meantime, protecting, 
enhancing and using what we have wisely is our best course.

Mark Solomon


At 6:14 PM -0800 5/13/05, Chris Storhok wrote:
>Mark,
>Thank you for bringing up the research; a lot of you discuss below is true,
>however as you well are aware the aquifer system under this area is not a
>classic saucer that forms basically one large subterranean "lake".  You
>mention below the visible ridges such as Moscow Mountain, Buffalo Hump, and
>Paradise Ridge, it has been shown that there may be several ridges buried
>beneath the surface that divide the basins into many sub-basins.  The net
>effect of this division is that instead of a classic layer cake, your cake
>has intrusions everywhere that separate each system.  North of town (in the
>area of the Naylor Farms) there is evidence that this area is not over a
>20,000 static pool of Grande Rhonde aquifer but instead over a ancient large
>river channel that serves to guide a tremendous amount of subsurface water
>northwest toward Colfax.  This water cannot recharge the  portions of the
>Grande Rhonde that serves both Moscow and Pullman because it cannot reach
>that "pool" due to a probable ridge.  Several residential wells in this
>vicinity as well as the drilling results from the Naylor's show over and
>over again that this region is unique from Moscow.  For this reason I really
>do support the Naylor's connectivity testing as laid out in the protocol.
>If Naylor is wrong and there really is a connected "pool", you know as well
>as I do they must abandon their efforts and cap the well.  If Naylor is
>right, then there is a new source of water for Moscow that can be tapped. 
>One nice little piece of scientific evidence that you keep flashing before
>is the "age" of the water.  I have never believed that the age is right
>since the water must percolate through sediments carrying 15,000 to 20,000
>year old carbon sources (and hence pick up the carbon 14 signature used to
>determine the waters age).  I would imagine you have brewed many a pot of
>coffee, the effect is the same - if I had a source of 20,000 year old coffee
>beans and brewed a cup I could tell you right now the isotopic signature of
>that cup would be 20,000 years old.
>
>On too mining...As you stated below, there are several layers of clays,
>sand, gravel, and so forth that separate the Wanapum and Grande Rhonde
>aquifer preventing water from passing down.  The same is true below the
>Canfield-Roger deposit. Below the commercially valuable clays there are up
>to hundreds of feet of non-commercially valuable clays, silts and so forth
>that prevent water from seeping down.  As many of your referenced papers in
>a later email points out, the Wanapum aquifer is mostly recharged near the
>base of Moscow Mountain, Buffalo Hump and Paradise Ridge.  Mining can (and
>has) taken place on this deposit without affecting the aquifer, I am sure it
>can again. 
>One other side note, you mentioned possible contamination of each aquifer,
>would not the proposed idea of injecting surface water into the aquifer
>carry the same (or greater) risk?
>
>I really hope that the city and the county take a look at plans that date
>back to the 1930's for construction of a series of small reservoirs that
>could hold runoff.  The city could run water lines to these reservoirs into
>a treatment plant and then into the drinking water system.
>
>I do want to bring up one more point, as someone who lived for years north
>of town and had a private well (i.e. I had to pay for the electricity to
>pump all the water I consumed) I learned that through proper lawn watering a
>person could maintain a somewhat green yard without using much water - if
>you balance it right you won't have to mow after mid-June.
>
>I do agree with you Mark, this is a very important issue for Moscow, I just
>have issues with the approach of prohibit this and prohibit that.  The
>conditional use permit system, its hearings, public comment and so forth
>really does work; I just wish that people could trust elected officials and
>boards to ensure the process does work.
>
>Have a great weekend
>
>Chris
>
>Chris Storhok
>North Pole, AK 
>