UPDATE: The Bend Bulletin reproduced this post in their opinion section today. They messed up the formatting and introduced a grammatical error, but I understand that they are struggling and appreciate the coverage.

Groundwater is declining at an alarming rate across the U.S.  A heating planet and pumping at an unsustainable rate is threatening agriculture, domestic water use, industry, the environment, and fish & wildlife.  The shortage in Arizona is bad enough to halt the construction of some housing developments and to rescind some agricultural water leases.

Oregon is also facing a crisis.  Last January, the Oregon Secretary of State released a report titled “State Leadership Must Take Action to Protect Water Security for All Oregonians”.  The press release announcing the report stated,

“Water is life. And the findings in this advisory report are shocking.  Not only are many families in Oregon dealing with water insecurity today, many more are at high-risk of becoming water insecure in the very near future. What’s shocking about this report is it shows that we don’t have a plan to address the problem.”

Here on the east side of the Cascades, Harney and Klamath counties have seen enormous drops in groundwater levels, reducing flows in springs and rivers and completely drying up many domestic wells.  Groundwater declines in Deschutes County have had similar impacts. 

For decades, the Oregon Water Resources Department has had a mandate to allow groundwater pumping only to the extent that it will not adversely affect stable groundwater levels.  Unfortunately, they have completely abdicated their duty to protect this public resource.  Groundwater levels have not been monitored, the amount of pumping has often not been measured, and the default has been to approve new well permits even with no data on water availability.  Powerful agricultural, industrial, and municipal lobbyists have manipulated our weak government and taken Oregon to the edge of disaster.

OWRD is finally attempting to protect groundwater, but local elected officials are in opposition.  A year ago, the Central Oregon Cities Organization (Bend, Culver, La Pine, Madras, Maupin, Metolius, Prineville, Redmond, and Sisters) published a white paper stating they need to be able to pump more groundwater and that the needs of domestic well owners, and by extension surface water, the environment, fish and wildlife, and recreation, should not be taken into consideration.

“Groundwater users with shallow wells that penetrate only the uppermost portion of the saturated thickness of the Deschutes aquifer should not force the closure of the resource to future groundwater appropriation”.

It is exactly this shallow groundwater that creates springs, rivers, nourishes plants, and allows fish and wildlife to live.  Local cities are on record that they do not care.

Clearly, this is a complex problem.  It is the nature of cities to encourage economic development and growth.  Housing needs in Central Oregon are well documented.  All these will require water.  Rather than simply pumping more, however, we should be looking at wholistic solutions. 

Recharging groundwater with highly treated wastewater and restrictive outdoor watering regulations could be implemented by cities on their own.  Cities should also demand effective water policy at the state level.  In Central Oregon, approximately 86% of water usage is by irrigators, most of whom are not economically productive, and who waste significant amounts.  It would only take a small reallocation of that water to meet the needs of local communities.  Domestic well policies should also be reformed.  I have such a well.  The rule says that I can use 15,000 gallons a day (!) and there is no required metering and no monitoring performed.

While economically productive agriculture is important in Central Oregon, few people move here for opportunities in that sector.  We are growing due to our “lifestyle economy”.  It’s the attraction of our natural surroundings that fuels our economic growth and those surroundings are dependent on water.  Our city officials are wrong.  We need to protect our groundwater.

People often ask me how they can make a difference.  The simplest thing to do is to vote.  When your elected city or county officials are in opposition to your values you need to replace them.