Aquifer handling current use

The massive aquifer below Kootenai and Spokane counties has been able to slake the fast-growing region’s thirst without being drained, according to the results of a new, $3.5 million federal study. But government officials and experts attending an aquifer summit this week in Spokane Valley expressed concerns the water is being squandered.

“Just because we have this amazing resource doesn’t mean you should waste it,” Spokane Mayor Dennis Hession told several hundred people attending the conference Wednesday. “It will make this economy or it will break it.”

The U.S. Geological Survey study revealed the aquifer was not being drained faster than it could be replenished by rainfall and mountain snowmelt, but the study offered no projections on how much longer this could last. Given the uncertainty and the fact that communities across the West are facing water shortages, local leaders ought to be working now to reduce consumption before the wells begin running dry, said Barry Rosenberg, executive director of the Kootenai Environmental Alliance.

“We should not get a false sense of security,” Rosenberg said, going on to note Kootenai County’s “explosive” rate of population growth. “What’s going to happen when Kootenai County starts taking as much out of the aquifer as Spokane does?”

The state of Idaho continues to grant an automatic water right of 13,000 gallons per day for any household that taps the aquifer. The limit is set by state law and dates back to a time when most people who needed wells were farmers or ranchers. Rosenberg called the amount “extraordinarily absurd,” and said it’s about 40 times more water than needed by a typical American household. Washington law grants 5,000 gallons per day to domestic wells.

On a per capita basis, residents in the area use more water “than just about any other municipality” to keep lawns green, said Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke. Conserving water would do a lot to keep the aquifer strong for years to come.

“That’s probably the place to start,” he said.

The aquifer might be keeping pace with growth, but the Spokane River is not, warned some of the participants at the water summit. The aquifer and the river are connected, with the aquifer pouring cool water into the river at some points and the river draining into the aquifer at other places.

During the hottest months of summer, when lawn watering causes water use across the region to triple, the result can be seen in lower river levels. Sucking more and more water from the aquifer will have dire consequences for the river, Spokane Councilwoman Mary Verner said.

“We really can’t have a dry channel running from Lake Coeur d’Alene down to Lake Roosevelt,” she said.

Low water levels in the river also concentrate pollution, including phosphorus discharged from sewage treatment plants. Cities along the Spokane River are planning to spend tens of millions of dollars in coming years to upgrade equipment to comply with tougher federal water quality standards.

“The river has a problem and this study didn’t really address that,” said Ty Wick, president of the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board.

The study gives policymakers an unprecedented amount of data on how the aquifer works. It does not, however, give any suggestions on how the 326-square-mile aquifer ought to be shared by Idaho and Washington. That’s the challenge now, said Jay Manning, director of the Washington Department of Ecology.

“The escalating competition for a scarce resource is getting more intense every day,” he said.

Idaho has begun the process of adjudicating claims on the aquifer’s water. The lengthy legal process is used to define water rights. Washington is now looking at doing the same for the estimated 13,000 water rights claims on its side of the aquifer, Manning said, though no decision has been made. Whatever happens, he said the state places a “tremendous” value on protecting the health of the river.

Idaho is in the midst of a long and increasingly bitter water rights battle involving the water below the Eastern Snake River Plain. Earlier this week, a judge issued an order blocking the state from turning off the pumps used by 771 farmers, cities and other users.

The problem boils down to too much thirst and not enough water, said David Tuthill, director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources. The case should serve as a warning to begin developing a cooperative management plan for the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Aquifer.

“Let’s figure out something together before the fight’s on,” Tuthill told attendees of the aquifer summit. “The fight is not on yet, folks.”