Public invited to learn about aquifer research

The public is invited to learn about new research into the status of the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for nearly a half-million people in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area.

A report on the federally funded aquifer study will be delivered Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at Red Lion Templin’s Hotel, 414 East First Ave., in Post Falls.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the Washington Department of Ecology will describe what’s been accomplished so far and what will be done this year.

The study, estimated to cost $3.5 million over several years, is being funded by Congress with contributions from Idaho and Washington. It is being done to “give both Idaho and Washington a scientifically defensible body of information on which to base future water-management decisions,” according to an Ecology press release.

The study got a $500,000 appropriation from Congress for the 2004 fiscal year and $1.5 million for 2005. Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, worked with community leaders from both states to obtain the funds.

The study was triggered by a series of requests in 2002 by power companies for large withdrawals of water out of the aquifer in Idaho at a time when Washington had an informal moratorium on additional withdrawals. The proposed Idaho withdrawals were successfully challenged by environmental groups and others concerned that the aquifer is already overused.