Vast Aquifer May Not Be One System, Report Says

A vast Eastern Washington aquifer system proposed for federal protection may not be as interconnected as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency thinks, says the head of a committee formed to review the proposal.

The EPA will release the committee’s full report next week, but the scientist’s view could derail federal attempts to designate the 14,000 square miles of ground water as the sole source of the region’s drinking water.

Craig Forster, chairman of the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute at the University of Utah, heads the scientific advisory group chosen by EPA last spring to evaluate the aquifer proposal.

In his summary report, Forster concludes:

The U.S. Geological Survey data EPA has used doesn’t prove the Eastern Columbia Plateau Aquifer System is one interconnected aquifer.

Some parts of the aquifer system are far more susceptible than others to contamination.

If one part of the shallow aquifer were to be contaminated, other sources of drinking water could be found.

It would be easier for the EPA to divide the proposed aquifer into subsystems instead of trying to manage it as one giant system.

Chuck Clarke, EPA’s top regional administrator, will make the final decision on the aquifer plan this fall.

EPA hydrogeologist Martha Sabol is reviewing additional studies at Hanford and at Washington State University that the scientific panel wants EPA to consider, said agency spokesman Bob Jacobson.

The sole-source designation would allow EPA to review all federally funded projects over the aquifer for their potential to pollute the ground water.

An environmental group, the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute, asked the EPA to protect the aquifer in January 1993.

Although the Pacific Northwest’s dozen other protected aquifers faced little opposition, this one was different.

Farm groups, rural officials, members of Congress and Waste Management Inc., the nation’s largest garbage company, all told EPA to back off.

In February, Washington Department of Ecology officials also declared their opposition. They cited scientific uncertainty about the size and uniformity of the aquifer, and a fear that anti-EPA sentiment in Eastern Washington would hinder their own efforts to protect ground water.

Waste Management officials said the sole-source designation would hike the price tag of their proposed mega-dump near in Adams County.

Farm groups said they feared the designation would mean more federal control over farming.

, DataTimes