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Water concerns top issue at Moscow forum
All seven candidates for seats on Moscow City Council attend session
sponsored by chamber

By David Johnson 

Thursday, October 18, 2007

 

MOSCOW - Debate over regional water woes bubbled up again here
Wednesday during a noon forum featuring all seven hopefuls for the
Moscow City Council.

One candidate suggested groundwater concerns have been used to stop
economic growth, at least three said aquifer levels continue to
decline, another claimed levels may have stabilized, one said more
action and less study may be needed, and another said he's tired of
seeing brown lawns, including in the city cemetery.

Five candidates - Aaron Ament, Dan Carscallen, Wayne Krauss, Tom Lamar
and Linda Pall - are running for three four-year terms on the council.
Ament, Lamar and Pall are incumbents.

Two candidates - Evan Holmes and Walter Steed - are running for one
two-year term. Neither is anincumbent. 

The election is Nov. 6 and Wednesday's forum, sponsored by the Moscow
Chamber of Commerce, was one of several scheduled in this politically
charged town that has two citizens groups - the Greater Moscow
Alliance and the Moscow Civic Association - increasingly active in the
campaign.

"I think it's been used as a way to stop growth in our town and I
don't think that's a great idea," Carscallen said of the water issue.

"We don't have a water emergency. I think most of us can agree to
that," said Krauss. "We could have, at the least, 200 years of water
left. ... But right now, folks, I'm just really tired of seeing all
our yards just burned up, including the cemetery."

"I know that there are people who believe that we should be showering
with 5-gallon buckets, to flush our toilets with when we get through,"
said Steed. "And I really don't want to live that way."

Carscallen, Krauss and Steed areall endorsed by the GMA.

Ament was adamant about potential water problems. "What we know, I
believe, is that our water level in the Grand Ronde aquifer is
dropping by 1.3 feet per year," he said.

"The major issue with water is we have a limited supply," Pall said.
"We don't know how much we have, and our straw is taking out quite a
bit from the aquifer right now."

"Well, water is my favorite beverage. I like it a lot," Lamar said,
lending some levity to the discussion before getting serious. "Even
when we were using less water than we are now, water levels were
dropping."

Ament, Pall and Lamar are all endorsed by the MCA.

Holmes, the only candidate not endorsed by either the GMA or MCA, said
it's time for action, like creating a capital fund to pay for
development of alternative water sources. "I'm not sure we need more
study," he said, adding that study and conservation won't increase
theamount of water available. But planning for something like a
surface water reservoir might.

The exchange came just two weeks after the third annual Palouse Basin
Water Summit in neighboring Pullman, which attracted experts from
throughout the region.

"We definitely need to continue to approach this problem from, how are
we going to stabilize our situation?" Krauss said. "What I don't like,
though, is the idea for us to try to save water here in Moscow so it
can be used downstream." He pointed to Washington State University's
new golf course as a potential excess drain on the water supply.

Lamar lauded the University of Idaho's efforts to recover used water
and said conservation efforts throughout Moscow should be encouraged,
while methods for capturing more surface water are explored.

Carscallen said Moscow appears to be at "the shallow end of the pool,"
with the two major aquifers extending farther west. Despite that, he
said thewater issue is more about management than lack of supply. He
said the area is saturated with experts who need to continue speaking
out about the water supply issue to ensure it remains a scientific,
rather than a political issue.

Ament said members of the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee continue to
do an outstanding job of ensuring future water supply and he said
there's a continued need to "engage our neighbors to the west" through
water summits and other forums.

Pall encouraged both PBAC and the city to keep working together on
water conservation and surface water retention fronts. "I'm in quite
solid support of our efforts right now ... kudos to our city efforts,
and more to come."

---

Johnson may be contacted at 

deveryone at potlatch.com or (208) 883-0564.

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