[Vision2020] Water: Are we the cause?

[Mark Solomon]

If I hadn't heard otherwise intelligent people 
asking this question in other venues, I would 
have just written this question off as another 
instance of pointless blather, but I have. Two 
points to answer because there are two separate 
aquifer systems Moscow relies on: the upper 
Wanapum basalts and the lower Grande Ronde 
basalts.

Wanapum: Used to be Moscow, sole source of water 
until 1960. Well levels dropped from 1930 
(beginning of record keeping) until pumping 
ceased in 1960 with well levels in essential free 
fall as the aquifer was drained. It took 30 years 
to recover, but by 1990 it was recharged. Score 
one for human caused decline. (Pumping resumed in 
1990 and well levels are again falling, following 
roughly the same curve as the previous pumping 
period which indicates a dry spell coming for 
Wanapum wells in about 15-20 years. The Wanapum 
currently provides @ 30% of Moscow water.)

Grande Ronde: We'll have to prove this one in the 
negative as the GR has been dropping 1-2' per 
year ever since we started pumping it and there 
has never been a period in which it wasn't 
pumped. Static water levels currently are about 
700' below ground level. If the 1-2' drop per 
year were not human induced, then by the we 
didn't do it argument, the water level somewhere 
between 350-700 years ago the water would have 
been at the ground level and we could be sipping 
water with a straw from the ground or watching 
springs bubble up and flow off down the rivers. 
As there is absolutely no indication in the 
geologic or indigenous oral history of this 
unlikely phenomenon, it probably did not occur. 
Call it thousands of years and the same argument 
holds. Score another one for human caused decline.

And let's move on to real issues like "what you 
gonna do when the well runs dry?"

Mark S.

At 11:20 PM -0700 4/25/06, Donovan Arnold wrote:
>Nils,
>
>How do we even know that we (humans in Moscow) 
>are the cause of the decline in the aquifer? 
>Just because my bathtub water is going down does 
>not mean I am consuming it. Just a thought.
>
>_DJA
>
>
>
>Nils Peterson <nils_peterson at wsu.edu> wrote:
>
>This is a good list, and some clear challenges. If the assertion in #1 is
>true, many people don't believe its an issue, then I doubt the rest of the
>items can follow.
>
>Is it possible that many think a declining aquifer might be a problem, but
>they don't think they can affect a solution, or that a solution might be
>financially costly to them, or that a solution might have negative impacts
>on the city (read, no growth).
>
>
>Art Deco writes:
>>  Nils asks:
>>
>>  "What is missing to put this into action?"
>>
>>  Among other things that may or may not be missing but whose existence is
>>  vital:
>>
>>  1. A large enough segment of the Moscow electorate willing to be educated
>>  on this issue. There are many people who believe that the water issue is
>>  not that important at this time.
>>
>>  2. Enough informed, willing and able persons to do the one-on-one
>>  education that it would probably take; the funds that it would take to
>>  prepare the materials for and to execute the education program.
>>
>>  3. A majority on the Moscow City Council with enough courage and stamina
>>  to lead, to carefully plan, and to enact the program.
>>
>>  4. A competent enough city manager and staff to successfully implement
>>  the program.
>>
>>  W.
>
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