[Vision2020] Water: Are we the cause?

[Donovan Arnold]

Mark,
  
 Maybe if you got some people behind you with some  credibility besides Nils and some prominent liberals, gathered some  legitimate data that is not all speculation, and came up with realistic  plans, you might get across to more than 22% of the population.
  
  Take Care,
  
  _DJA

Mark Solomon <msolomon at moscow.com> wrote:    Re: [Vision2020] Water: Are we the  cause?  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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