“Send in the moving trucks”... or, how much will WE be paying for a thimble full of water?

Given that we are experiencing a record statewide drought our City Council majority’s (Allevato, Kramer & Taylor) decision to “go it alone” and build a ground water recovery plant (GWRP) appears positively clairvoyant until you take a closer look... (see attached Fox News article)

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/01/california-cuts-off-water-to-agencies-serving-millions-amid-drought/

According to Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board. "We need to conserve what little we have to use later in the year, or even in future years."  What the government agencies including our City Council majority failed to consider is the following alarm raised by water experts like Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute.

"The challenge is that in the last drought we drew down groundwater resources and never allowed them to recover," said Heather Cooley, water program co-director for the Pacific Institute, a water policy think tank in Oakland. "We're seeing long term, ongoing declining groundwater (aquifers) levels, and that's a major problem."

Aquifers are naturals underground reservoirs that play an important role in regulating the osmotic pressure of the arable land mass (especially in coastal areas).  Long term depletion of ground water can cause both the size & storage capacity of these underground reservoirs to permanently shrink which further complicates the problem of  salt water intrusion from lowered osmotic pressure in the coastal land masses.  (aka. The ultimate definition of a costly vicious cycle.)

Our current water crisis should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever driven the  241 Tollroad.  One of the most beautiful drives through some very ancient and arid topography.  San Juan residents are ahead of the learning curve in experiencing first hand the costly effects of living in an arid part of the most agriculturally productive and populous states in America.  

As Southern California’s population grows it becomes increasingly difficult to reconcile the water needs of homeowners with those of farmers.  It now appears that the exorbitant cost water in our village will do what no elected official has ever had the courage or brains to do.  Limit population growth and new household demand for water by limiting massive unsustainable future land development projects. 

How long will it be before WE in SJC pay triple the price to use 75% less water because our Council majority chose to “go it alone”...paying all the build, maintenance & repair costs of a chronically malfunctioning ground water plant... that just so happens to also help mitigate the water demands of the next massive new home project to our East?

Watch what happens to property values when people find out they can’t  afford to take a bath in San Juan Capistrano due to the spiraling costs of a faulty and perhaps unsustainable local ground water recovery plant.

(Read more on ground water depletion) 

“Ground water depletion is when all the ground water is pumped out of an aquifer and no more groundwater is left. This causes the water table to sink and lakes and rivers to sink as well...”

Causes

• The single biggest source of groundwater depletion and lowering of the water table is over-pumping. Water enters underground water supplies through seepage of rainwater and runoff and from the beds of bodies of water. The water travels slowly through layers of soil and rock before finally reaching the water table. Along the way, it is filtered and purified. That process can take a considerable amount of time, depending on the depth of the water table, the makeup of the surrounding rock and the amount of water seeping into the soil. If the water does not have a chance to replenish itself after it is pumped out, the water table will drop and the band of water in the ground under the water table will shrink.
  

Effects

• If over-pumping occurs over a long period, wells run dry because they are not deep enough to reach the lowered water table. Even if the wells do not run dry, the amount of yield per well drops, since the total amount of water has decreased. Municipalities must spend more money to pump water into their systems or create reservoirs to help resupply groundwater.

Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_6318272_groundwater-table-depleted_.html#ixzz2sBePSjeq

What is the problem with extracting groundwater?

In: Science [Edit categories]

Answer:

There are several problems:

1. This aquifer carries water to the oceans, just like above ground rivers do. This cuts off a nutrient and thermal source that ocean life depends on.
2. This aquifer commonly supports the land above it, so removing the water can create sink holes.
3. This aquifer commonly supplies multiple wells, so removing water at a new place may change how much and how deep others may have to go, and what contaminants they will see.
4. This aquifer frequently contains things that are unsafe to be drunk, so additional treament will be necessary. (Water quality usually changes more slowly for groundwater sources, than does a river, so that helps.)
5. Drawing water from this aquifer draws additional organisms from the vadose zone (and above), which will alter water quality over time.
6. The hole fails over time (ground settles, casings corrode, other wells lower water table), and additional expense has to be spent on into the future to maintain / repair / abandon it.