Are we Neglecting our Groundwater?

I read an article today outlining the importance of stepping up our proper management of groundwater across this country. I have to say, this is an interesting and often neglected topic within water management circles. In Canada, the majority of water systems use surface water as the primary water source and so most of the attention revolves around the quality of our lakes and rivers while sometimes neglecting the importance of the water beneath us. I believe there are a few reasons for this: 1) 2/3rd of our population is served by surface water. 2) Surface water has the effect of immediacy - We see it. We feel it. We swim in it. Our dogs swim in it. We dump our refuse straight into it. We have immediate feedback on any significant changes that might be taking place to these water supplies (seen a recent picture of Lake Mead?). 3) We aren't the only users of surface water - we have to watch out for fish and wildlife stocks that depend on these surface sources for survival.

While all of these are good reasons to stand up and take notice of what is happening on the surface, it does sometimes sweep groundwater issues under the rug. We need to keep the magnifying glass pointed just as directly as groundwater. With 10 million Canadians alone (and how many more around the world?) depending on groundwater the issues are worth paying attention to. While surface water has the effect of immediacy, groundwater unfortunately has the opposite effect. It takes time, a long time, for the cause and effect cycle underground. Any large scale contamination that happens on the surface often takes years to seep down into the underlying aquifers. There have been a number of large-scale aquifer contaminations from various pollutants, agricultural chemicals, and industrial pollutants. Nitrates and rocket fuel additives being two often-cited examples all over North America. Household pharmaceuticals seem to be another growing area of concern.

Fortunately, there are efforts underway to begin mapping groundwater, both in terms of quantity and quality. In BC there is a provincially funded program to create and monitor test wells. These test wells will start accumulating data to monitor and measure how the aquifers respond to seasonal changes and year to year use. The program is only a few years old, and woefully underfunded so a proper history of groundwater is still a long way off. And here's one very unfortunate observation I've made over the last few years: while it can take a very long time for downward problems to show up, the upward problems can happen frighteningly fast. We have a number of customers that have learned first-hand how dramatically water conditions can change in a short period of time. We have clients who just a few years ago had top producing wells with excellent quality water. Within just a few years their wells are now going dry towards the end of the summer. And as you can imagine, as water quantity goes down, quality generally goes right with it. I have my own theories as to what has caused this, but it all boils down to one inescapable fact - we can and do pull it out of the ground far faster than it will naturally replenish itself. Sound like a familiar story?

I, for one, don't think we can push these groundwater initiatives forward fast enough. We just don't have enough information to arm ourselves properly for the challenges to come. With a few exceptions, we are only guessing at what is really happening underground as we just don't have enough historical information to guide us. And if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

The article on groundwater management is at http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1583292