Hydrologic Delays

NASA ASTER image of an approx. 557 mi² area of fields (1443 km²) in Kansas which are watered from the Ogallala aquifer with center pivot irrigation systems. Wikipedia

Having grown up in Florida my views on water and water "rights" has changed since moving to Colorado.  In Florida, water was more plentiful and dependable than in Colorado.  In Florida, water was all around, if not in a swamp or a creek or a river, it was all around you in the form of groundwater.  In Florida, you didn't have to have the "right" to take water from the river you could just take it or you could dig a well and access the water wherever you owned land.  I frequently swam in many of the naturally fed crystal clear springs in North Florida and that was one of my favorite things about the area.  Suwannee Farms is just down the road from where I grew up.  It operates around 43 irrigation systems over about 5200 acres.  I thought there still seems to be plenty of water in Florida but things are changing.  My parents tell me hardly any of the springs are flowing any more.  Parts of the Suwannee River are so dried up you can walk across.  Committees are forming to begin to manage a disappearing resource.  South Florida has been trying to take water from North Florida for years now because of overpopulation.  Northeastern Florida is having a deficit in water deposits for so long they are anticipating shortages for many years to come.

I was mostly unaware of large scale water shortages in my youth in Florida because it fell from the sky so often and replenished the water we took for ourselves.  It's the subsurface water table I am becoming much more aware of which is changing my water paradigm- the way I see water and the role we play in its use.  Ubiquitous delays are manifesting themselves in all parts of our national environmental systems.  A huge concern of mine is the Ogallala Aquifer.  It is being pumped at a rate of more than 1.5 billion gallons per day.  There is a recharge deficit of more than twice the amount being removed.  The aquifer was mostly glacial water and if it is depleted, it could take more than 6,000 years to be replenished.  Wow!  Talk about a delay.

After moving to Colorado, I became aware of water rights and the concept of what a severe drought can create.  This area was beginning a seven year drought when I moved here in 1998.  There is speculation that S.A.D. (Sudden Aspen Decline) is a result of that drought.  Dusty roads and no campfires were the most relevant detriment I could see at the time.  There are so many immediate and delayed ramifications of drought.  I never knew there was such a problem with reservoirs until I moved out west, either.  Delays are ubiquitous, indeed, when dealing with hydrology.

It is the existence of delays and the sometimes incredibly slow pace in which they appear that concerns me the most in regard to the Aspen Castle Creek Hydropower project.  If we tap the Castle and Maroon Creeks for hydropower, it may be years before the evidence of its damage will be evident.  The Western Rivers Institute Blog  http://westernriversinstitute.org/?page_id=175 compares the entire riparian area to a sponge.  The gravel deposits that are the bed of the creeks are an integral part of the area surrounding the creeks and act as a sponge that will be depleted of water with the prolonged reduced water flows.  This "sponge" delivers water to the rest of the riparian area beyond the creek bed.  The higher the flow the more water is "pushed" into the sponge.  Riparian zones are responsible for the majority of the biodiversity of our biome and the planet.  It will be too late to truly investigate the threats to the environment when the damage begins to reveal itself in dying cottonwoods, willows and alders.  These riparian plant species and more provide habitat for many animals and insects creating a very valuable source of diversity which will be replaced by more drought tolerant species resulting in less diversity.

This project is already fraught with problems like over budget costs, abandoned water rights, low return of investment, inadequate environmental impact assessment, etc.  It seems that geothermal might be a better source of energy than the fragile ecosystems surrounding the streams of Aspen and elsewhere.  Maybe we should at least wait and see what the test wells discover about the possible use of geothermal energy in Aspen.  I have no doubt that diminishing the natural cycles of high to low water flow throughout the year in these streams will bring a detrimental effect to habitat in and around the streams.  How could it not?  It will just be delayed to the point of difficulty in making the connection.  The question is is it worth it?  Not to me.