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Water and Growth
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
Lack of water could limit growth People, salmon compete for groundwater JOHN DODGE, THE OLYMPIAN THURSTON COUNTY -- The availability of water is the Achilles' heel of continued population growth in South Sound.
That's the consensus of dozens of people asked this question by The Olympian: What is the No. 1 environmental issue that could limit growth?
"The limit we will bump up against is water," says former Olympia mayor Bob Jacobs. "What else is there?"
"Water supply," agrees Rochester area resident Vicki Era.
If it seems strange to think that soggy South Sound, which routinely receives more than 50 inches of rain a year, could experience a water shortage, consider this:
The groundwater we rely on, which is replenished by rainfall, is also the lifeblood of our region's rivers, lakes and streams.
Take too much groundwater for people, and there isn't enough water for fish, including salmon protected under the Endangered Species Act.
"ESA becomes the club to make believers out of everybody," says Bob Wubbena, a water-supply engineer with Economic and Engineering Services Inc. of Olympia. "It forces people to come to grips with land use and water resources."
Here in Thurston County, residents use more than 62,000 acre-feet of water a year, according to a 1988-90 study by the U.S. Geological Survey. That's more than 20 billion gallons.
It's only about 9 percent of all the water flowing through the underground aquifers each year.
An additional 88 percent of the water flows to rivers, streams, lakes, springs and Puget Sound.
How much of that water can be used by people without harming stream and lake flows is still subject to study and debate.
There isn't even a good estimate of how much additional water is needed over the next 50 years.
The city of Olympia has identified a prolific aquifer in the McAllister Springs area, capable of supplying 50 million to 60 million gallons a day.
That's four or five times the water Olympia draws from McAllister Springs -- the city's main water supply -- on a hot summer day.
It sounds like enough water to meet urban growth for decades to come.
Not so fast.
Just to use a fraction of it, the city must first convince the state Department of Ecology that it won't reduce water flows to the Nisqually River and Lake St. Clair.
"It's created some real concerns for us," says Mike Harris, Ecology's regional water-resources supervisor.
A computer model accepted by the city and Ecology should start answering some of the questions about the aquifer by early 2001, says Doug Micheau, city assistant director for utilities.
Pollution a problem
Groundwater pollution can also put a crimp in water supply. Tumwater has experienced this firsthand.
City wells supplying up to 30 percent of the city's summer water demand have been knocked out of commission --some for years, some for months -- since 1993.
Throughout the county, there are some 50 places where toxic chemicals have fouled groundwater supplies.
Despite some of the obstacles, Wubbena thinks the needs of people and fish can both be met, with creative new approaches.
"There's enough water if it's better managed and we're allowed to move it around," he says.
Water conservation, reuse of wastewater and increased storage of water during times of excess flow would all be part of the solution.
It will cost money. It will take cooperation between water-rich and water-poor areas and their utilities. But it can be done, he says.
Others note that 16 of the 62 water basins in the state have both an ESA-listed salmon stock and a water-supply problem.
In other words, if all the water rights granted to people are exercised, there won't be enough water to support fish and water quality in those streams.
"To pump and pipe water around fails to acknowledge that we've already depleted the resource," says Rob Caldwell, director of the Center for Environmental Law and Policy, a Seattle-based environmental group.
Wubbena and Caldwell agree that wastewater reuse and water conservation have to be part of any water-supply plan.
Here in South Sound, the cities of Tumwater, Lacey and Olympia have set a goal of reducing water consumption roughly 10 percent per person over the next 10 years.
And the LOTT Wastewater Alliance could be recycling up to 10 million gallons a day of highly treated wastewater by 2020.
If 2 million gallons reached the groundwater daily, it would be enough to supply 25,000 people.
Another option in South Sound would be to tap into the aquifers that sit beneath the ones we use for water supplies.
Generally speaking, the deep aquifers are more than 200 feet below sea level. They have less of an influence on surface water than do the shallow aquifers, Ecology hydrogeologist Tom Culhane says.
On the other hand, the deep aquifers are often tainted with naturally-occurring iron and manganese, county hydrogeologist Bob Mead notes. They would require water treatment before they could be used. The Olympian Copyright 2000 back to main Water and Growth index
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