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Summit to explore aquifer
Participants to examine water-source research
James Hagengruber, The Spokesman Review, May 7, 2007
The aquifer that supplies drinking water to most of Spokane and Kootenai counties is often compared to a massive bathtub filled with gravel, boulders and lots of rainwater and melted mountain snow.
But this huge bathtub is deep underground and until recently, little was known about how much water it holds.
After nearly four years and $3.5 million worth of research, much more is known about the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. Tuesday and Wednesday, scientists and water managers from Idaho and Washington will meet in Spokane Valley to discuss the results and consider how the improved information can be used to make wiser decisions on managing the aquifer.
Researchers also created a complicated computer program to determine how new wells proposed for the aquifer might affect other wells in the area. Jani Gilbert, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Ecology, said the research and model will be invaluable to decision-makers in both states.
"We had no ability on either side of the border to make good management decisions," Gilbert said.
The study was requested nearly six years ago, after power companies sought a permit to remove upward of 14 million gallons of groundwater from the Rathdrum Prairie in Idaho. The proposal was successfully opposed by conservationists, who worried the aquifer would be drained faster than it could be replenished. But no one knew for sure, Gilbert said.
"We're not mining the aquifer, which is really good news," Gilbert said.
The work was conducted by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as researchers from Washington and Idaho.
Research results show that the aquifer is not being drained faster than it can replenish itself and that the groundwater varies widely in how fast it moves on its gradual, downhill slide from Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho toward the Spokane River.
Rachael Paschal Osborn, a Spokane conservationist and attorney specializing in water law, said the studies contained "an incredible amount of data," but nothing particularly surprising. Now that the studies are done, Osborn hopes the states take a comprehensive look at how the aquifer should be jointly managed.
Disputes have been brewing for years over the aquifer, Osborn said. "We don't have warfare yet, but there's clearly a conflict."
And even though the aquifer is replenishing itself for now, Osborn said ongoing increases in water use in North Idaho have lowered the amount of water in the Spokane River. The aquifer and the river feed each other.
Sewage treatment plants in cities along the river are being forced to make multimillion-dollar upgrades to reduce pollution. More water coming into the river from the aquifer would ease the problem, Osborn said.
"When the state says the aquifer is not being mined, it's really disturbing to me because that's not the issue," Osborn said. "The issue is the river, and the river is in very serious trouble."
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