Dr. Famiglietti the Godfather of Groundwater Sustainability

Last week I read a very interesting Opinion piece in the NewYork Times by Jay Famiglietti who is one of the more important groundwater scientists of our time. It was a thought piece addressing what will happen if we don't protect our groundwater and it continues to disappear, will we need to move water to where our food is currently grown?  Dr Famiglietti was not really arguing for pumping the great lakes to California he was trying to highlight the coming water crisis and our need to take action.

Dr Famiglietti is currently a Global Futures Professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University and serves as the Director of Science for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative. He is Professor Emeritus from the University of Saskatchewan, where he was Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security. He was the founding Chief Scientist of the Silicon Valley startup, Waterplan. Before that he served as the Senior Water Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. From 2013 through 2018, he was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the California State Water Boards in the Santa Ana and Los Angeles regions.

I know his work best from when Dr. Famiglietti was a professor of Earth System Science and of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, (2001 to 2016)  where he was the Founding Director of the UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling. Before that Dr Famiglietti was on the faculty of the Geological Sciences Department at the University of Texas at Austin, where he and his research team including Matt Rodell developed the way to use satellites to track changing water availability around the world. They pioneered the methods to detect groundwater depletion from space using the NASA GRACE mission. 

Dr Famiglietti also has a water podcast “What About Water.” It’s good you, too, should be a listener.  Jay Famiglietti | Global Futures Professor, ASU; Podcast host, "What About Water"

I would like to quote some of the highlights of Dr. Famiglietti’s comment on groundwater.  “For over a century, America’s farmers have overpumped groundwater, and now, as the world warms and the Southwest becomes drier, the situation is only growing more dire. Rivers are slowing to a trickle, water tables are falling, land is sinking, and wells are drying up.”

Our climate has changed and will continue to change. The fantasy of renewable energy and electrification of everything stopping climate change from happening was just that a fantasy. The climate will continue to change because we have failed in both our understand and action.

On Earth Day in 2016 196 countries officially signed the Paris Climate Accord that was intended to put the nations on a course to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. The Paris Agreement aims to limit global temperature increase to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C by each nation committing to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Even if every nation met their current pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions made in the Paris Climate Accord and its updates, the reductions promised are not enough to even maintain global temperatures within 2 °C above pre-industrial levels; and the nations are not meeting those pledges.  The United States currently represents less than 14% of global carbon emissions. There is virtually nothing we as a nation can do (at this point) to stop the climate from changing. We need to adapt to the future we will face and move to a sustainable path.

As Dr Famiglietti points out: “States are aware there is a problem — many are trying to sustainably manage their groundwater. But it’s not clear how successful these efforts have been. His research team has found that groundwater depletion is accelerating in the Central Valley, in spite of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.”

In the best studied area of groundwater depletion attempts to regulate and manage it appear to be failing. The regulatory schemes so far in use appear to have failed. The groundwater management area of Virginia in the Potomac Aquifer is only doing a little better.  There will likely not be enough groundwater to accommodate future growth in the region without additional permit reductions or increasing supply through large-scale, long-term water projects.

Beyond the next few years, though, sustainability is tenuous and can easily be tipped out of balance. Potential growth in both unpermitted and permitted withdrawals can easily push demand in excess of supply, leading again to unsustainable use. Changes in the hydraulic cycle from the changing climate with impact sustainability and management of groundwater resources.

 “If we want to sustain groundwater supplies for future generations, we will need reliable estimates of what’s available in key aquifers, how its quality changes with depth and how much can be safely pumped without risk of running dry. That means we must prioritize the systematic exploration and evaluation of what’s in the ground and make a plan to end or dramatically reduce groundwater depletion.” In addition to the information needs pointed out by Dr. Famiglietti we need to further understand the use of groundwater and in the east we need to fully understand recharge and the impact of land use changes on groundwater recharge and surface water.

I encourage you to explore Dr Famiglietti’s podcasts. They are well worth your time.

Climate Change, Mankind and Groundwater

The article below consists of extracts from the USGS, U.S. Forest Service, the National Environmental Health Association YouTube presentation by Dr. Jason R. Barrett, Mr. Joel Pigg, and Dr. Sam Sherchan and the article cited below:

Benz, S.A., Irvine, D.J., Rau, G.C. et al. Global groundwater warming due to climate change. Nat. Geosci. 17, 545–551 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01453-x

 

Groundwater is ubiquitous and represents the largest distributed store of fresh water on earth playing a central role in sustaining ecosystems and enabling human communities and life. The importance of groundwater for global water and food security will probably increase as the climate warms and as more variability in precipitation (more intense droughts and more intense floods), more variability in soil moisture and surface water increase the need for and value of groundwater.

Over the past 50 years, humans have extracted the Earth’s groundwater at an ever increasing rate, largely to provide food and water for the growing global population and the support the economic development needed for all those people. Extracting groundwater beyond what is replenished will slowly over time use up the aquifer and that is a threat we have been seeing for decades. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and the associated datasets and hydrological models have focused most of their work on resource quantity and the threat to water supply of over using groundwater beyond its recharge rate.  

Population growth and development has increased the threat to groundwater. This growth has Increased the need for water while reducing the open forested areas and natural grasslands that allow for infiltration of precipitation into the ground.  Reducing the replenishing (recharge) of the aquifer while increasing the demand for water is unsustainable combination as documented by the GRACE data trends. Groundwater is used for water supply and serves to support steam flow between rain storms. As groundwater levels fall, perennial steams that feed the rivers become intermittent and then ephemeral. The groundwater becomes disconnected from the surface water network. Groundwater comes from rainwater and snow melt percolating into the ground. 

The most obvious concern is depletion of groundwater as it becomes an increasingly important water source. As precipitation becomes less reliable due to climate change, surface water bodies can drop too low to provide needed water, causing people to turn to groundwater sources. Over-pumping and depletion of groundwater is already a significant problem in many places across the Eastern Region of the United States. Over-pumping will increase as climate change makes traditional sources of water less reliable, but there are other impacts.

Impervious surfaces prevent groundwater from soaking into the ground. Areas with a large amount of impervious surfaces (such as asphalt, concrete, buildings, etc.) not only are susceptible to flooding but are also susceptible to  higher ambient air temperatures because the man made roads, parking lots, concrete surfaces and buildings absorb and trap heat more heat than natural environments. Impervious surfaces where water runs off into local streams instead of slowly soaking into the ground act as direct routes for rainfall to make its way into streams at higher velocities, but also at poorer quality.

Rain that falls on a parking lot that has been baking in the sun all day during summer gets super heated and then runs off into streams. This heated water can be a shock to the aquatic life in the stream and can harm the water quality of the stream. Along with the heat, runoff from parking lots can contain pollutants, such as leaked motor oil, hydrocarbons from exhaust, leftover fertilizer, and normal trash. 

Temperature of water matters because warmer stream water can affect the aquatic life in the stream. Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen than cool water, and may not contain enough dissolved oxygen for the survival of different species of aquatic life. Some compounds are also more toxic to aquatic life at higher temperatures. Increasing global temperatures caused by a changing climate or the heat island effect of the expansion of the urban built environment are impacting our streams.

While work has accelerated to document the using up of our groundwater resources, there has been little work so far into groundwater quality, including temperature. This is now becoming a more important area of research. Groundwater serves as a cooling system and heat sink for the earth and delivers moderate temperature water to streams. As the impact of mankind and a changing climate increase, groundwater’s ability to cool and feed streams is reduced. Climate change is already having impacts on groundwater resources by changing the location, frequency, and intensity of rain storms. Stormwater flowing directly to streams is warmer. In manmade stormwater ponds evaporation increases contaminant concentration of the water that moves into the water table which is also warmer.  

Other research has shown that this could lead to warmer surface water bodies. Many streams depend on groundwater to maintain their cool to cold-water conditions, which are required by many organisms. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been measuring how much water is flowing in rivers, determining the water levels of groundwater, and collecting water samples to describe the quality of those waters for over a century. Over this time period, they have taken millions of measurements of , groundwater levels, surface water flow and temperature. 

The research has found that warmer precipitation and recharge will eventually reach streams and rivers as warmer baseflow over the next decades and groundwater levels continue to fall. While a permanent water table decrease of one to three feet may not mean anything for a water supply well, it can have severe consequences for surface water bodies and ecosystems dependent on that shallow water table. In the Potomac Aquifer and the Culpeper Basin the water table has fallen by far more than that.

from EPA 2021

Land Use and Land Cover Changes Impact on Groundwater

Kumari Yadav S (2023) Land Cover Change and Its Impact on Groundwater Resources: Findings and Recommendations. Groundwater - New Advances and Challenges. IntechOpen. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110311.

This is a book to read. The editor of the book cited above examined many of the  groundwater studies recently completed that assess the impact of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes on groundwater. As you can imagine many of the impacts vary and there are tremendous gaps in our current knowledge. Below I have excerpted some of the introduction highlights. You can order a copy of the book from Amazon.

Groundwater is an essential. It serves as a buffer against short- and long-term fluctuations in surface water availability brought on by climatic variability. Approximately 2 billion people on earth depend primarily on groundwater for domestic and agricultural.  Groundwater is crucial for irrigated agriculture and for ensuring the safety of the world’s food security. Feeding mankind is the largest use of water. It accounts for 90% of freshwater consumption. The annual groundwater use for irrigation is 545 km³ of which 43% of the water used annually comes from groundwater.

In many areas, groundwater may be the sole supply of water that is always present. The use of groundwater is influenced by variables, including accessibility, transportability, cost-effectiveness, and availability. The main reasons why people choose to use groundwater water are reliable supplies and reasonable prices 

Groundwater recharge is the vertical flow of water that reaches the water table and increases groundwater storage. Rates of recharge vary by orders of magnitude over space and time, depending on the interaction of climate, soil, geology, surface hydrology, vegetation, and land use. Groundwater recharge, which occurs primarily through rainfall-recharge and surface water and groundwater interaction processes, replenishes groundwater aquifer systems. The change in LULC impacts groundwater recharge processes by modifying the earth’s hydrological system and balance.

Scientists are finding that the quantity, locations, and timing of groundwater recharge and discharge are increasingly altered due to rising population, agricultural growth, and urban land area. For groundwater development and sustainable groundwater resource management, groundwater recharge determines the groundwater withdrawal rates in a region

Land use change is a complex, dynamic process, which has direct impacts on soil, water, and the atmosphere. The most urgent problem of the twenty-first century in terms of groundwater monitoring and accurate projections is the rapidly changing Land Use and Land Cover (LULC). LULC change is becoming a major ecological concern influencing the groundwater recharge significantly. Understanding groundwater recharge in turn is necessary to determine what is a sustainable use rates and analyze aquifer sensitivity to pollution.

Groundwater quality is declining due to rising water demand, urbanization, changing land use and land cover, and climate change. Changes in LULC are among the most significant anthropogenic interventions.  LULC impacts the surface of the Earth by changing vegetation in forests, water bodies, and adding human structures.

While groundwater is an essential and significant portion of the freshwater supply for household, agricultural, and commercial applications, the effects of LULC change on groundwater recharge are not adequately understood, which leads to groundwater depletion. Therefore, understanding the impacts of LULC change on the groundwater is needed for the optimal management of natural resources.

Changes in land cover in the USA caused a rise in both the minimum and maximum temperatures. Additionally, groundwater condition (both quality and quantity) and its recharge are negatively impacted by urbanization of previous agricultural and open spaces. The hydrology of the region has been shown to have changed as a result of the conversion of natural, agricultural, and other low-population density sites into urban/suburban populations. Evidence shows that when urbanization is excessive, more than half of the precipitation drains off and just a small portion is infiltrated deeply.

The change in land cover has a significant impact on the change in groundwater recharge. Estimating groundwater recharge is crucial in managing water resources including surface water resources. It has become widely accepted that changes in LULC have an impact on groundwater. Numerous factors influence LULC change and its impact on recharge. Understanding of these processes and monitoring their impact is required to manage groundwater resources to be sustainable.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors has once again issued a directive to staff for a groundwater study. The PW County Department of Public Works has submitted a proposal to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors for Groundwater Study to address concerns with the impact of future developments and the sustainability of groundwater as a water supply.

Last time the Department of Public Works proposed only to have the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) create a Soil Water Balance Model and that it was not necessary or cost effective to study the actual groundwater in the various soil types in the county. This was not followed up on and was inadequate to assure sustainable water for all our residents.  Approximately 15% of Prince William County depend on groundwater for their drinking water. This includes the about 16,000 private wells in the semi rural areas of the county and the Evergreen Water District is supplied by groundwater wells.

We do know that groundwater availability varies by location even within Prince William County (Nelms and Richardson, 1990). Precipitation and soil types determines how much the shallower groundwater is recharged annually. The volume of water that can be stored is controlled by the reservoir characteristics of the subsurface rocks. We need monitoring wells spread in the areas of the county where groundwater is depended on in each of the soil types. In addition, we need the groundwater wells of commercial users to track usage. We need to ensure the sustainability of the groundwater in Prince William County. The water supply is not unlimited.

 

Global Groundwater Decline

This article highlights the important work that has been done in this area by Professors Jasecchko and Perrone of U.C, Santa Barabara and has been excerpted from the research of the study cited below. All footnotes for the statement of facts can be found in the original article.

Jasechko, S., Seybold, H., Perrone, D. et al. Rapid groundwater decline and some cases of recovery in aquifers globally. Nature 625, 715–721 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06879-8

 

In many parts of the world groundwater serves as the primary or a significant source of water for many homes, farms, industries and cities. Unsustainable groundwater use and changes in rainfall can cause groundwater levels to fall, indicating depletion of groundwater resources. Groundwater depletion can threaten ecosystems and economies. Specifically, groundwater depletion can damage infrastructure through land subsidence, impair ecosystems through streamflow depletion, jeopardize agricultural productivity, and compromise water supplies as wells run dry. Groundwater is both used for water supply and serves to support steam flow between rain storms. Groundwater comes from rainwater and snow melt percolating into the ground.

The authors analyzed groundwater-level trends for 170,000 monitoring wells and 1,693 aquifer systems in countries that encompass approximately 75% of global groundwater withdrawals. (Note that our own Virginia aquifer systems were comparatively stable over the time period.)  The authors complemented measurements from monitoring wells with data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). The GRACE mission consists of twin satellites that precisely measure the distance between them as they orbit the Earth. In this way, the satellites detect small fluctuations in the planet’s gravity, which can at large scales be translated to changes in aquifers.

The authors findings provide the most comprehensive analysis of global groundwater levels to date. The work revealed that groundwater is dropping in 71% of the aquifers. And this depletion is accelerating in many places: the rates of groundwater decline in the 1980s and ’90s has increased since 2000 to the present.  The accelerating declines are occurring in nearly three times as many places as they would expect by chance.

They found that rapid groundwater-level declines (>0.5 meter per year) are widespread in the twenty-first century, especially in dry regions with extensive croplands. Though I should note that irrigation is only necessary to make food for people.  Critically, they found that groundwater-level declines have accelerated over the past four decades in 30% of the world’s regional aquifers. This widespread acceleration in groundwater-level deepening highlights an urgent need for more effective measures to address groundwater depletion.

Their analysis also reveals specific cases in which depletion trends have been reversed following policy changes, managed aquifer recharge and surface-water diversions, demonstrating the potential for depleted aquifer systems to recover if appropriate action is taken. This should serve as a warning that our groundwater resources need to be managed sustainability. The Trends in groundwater levels were found to differ from well to well, and groundwater decline can be found even in regions in which nearby groundwater levels are stable or rising, and vice versa.  This observation highlights the importance of analyzing groundwater-level trends at the scales defined by the boundaries of individual aquifer systems.

The authors also analyzed precipitation variability over the past four decades for almost a third of the aquifers. Within this group they found that 90% of aquifers where declines were accelerating are in places where conditions have gotten drier over the last 40 years. These trends have likely reduced groundwater recharge and increased demand. They state that on the other hand, climate variability can also enable groundwater to rebound where conditions become wetter.

Their work indicates that climatic trends, hydrogeologic conditions, groundwater withdrawal rates, land uses and management approaches have resulted in widespread, rapid and accelerating groundwater-level declines. Nevertheless, the compiled in situ observations also capture numerous cases in which declines in groundwater levels have slowed, stopped or reversed following intervention.   They found that in 265 of the  aquifer systems in the analysis, groundwater-level declines have slowed or reversed, or groundwater levels have risen.

In general, rates of groundwater-level increasing are much slower than rates of groundwater-level decline. Of the aquifer systems with rising twenty-first century groundwater levels, only 6% are rising faster than −0.2 meters per year. By contrast, of the aquifer systems with deepening twenty-first century groundwater levels, 25% are falling faster than 0.2 meters per year. Furthermore, across these aquifer systems, the average rate of twenty-first century deepening exceeds the average rate of shallowing by a factor of four. Thus, rapidly rising groundwater levels are rare, but they demonstrate that aquifer recovery is possible, especially following policy changes, managed aquifer recharge, and inter-basin surface water-transfers. What this study says is we need to actively manage the groundwater (in conjunction with surface water) for a sustainable future. Remember, Of all the water on earth only about  3% is fresh; however, only ½% of the water on earth is available for mankind to use. The rest of the fresh water is locked away in ice, super deep groundwater or polluted beyond redemption.

The Coastal Plain Aquifer

 

The Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system consists of six regional aquifers and extends from Raritan Bay, N.J. to the North Carolina-South Carolina State line. The crystalline rocks of the Piedmont Physiographic Province at the Fall Line mark the western limit of the aquifer. The eastern limit of the aquifer system is, for all practical purposes, the shoreline. The northern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is underlain by a wedge-shaped mass of semi-consolidated to unconsolidated sediments that thickens toward the ocean and is topped by a layer of crystalline rock.

The thickness of the sediments vary. At the New Jersey coastline they are about 4,000 feet, but the sediments reach as much as 8,000 feet along the coast of Maryland and 10,000 feet along the coast of North Carolina. The sediments consist of lenses and layers of clay, silt, and sand, with minor amounts of lignite, gravel, and limestone. The sand, gravel, and limestone make up the water bearing aquifers; some are traceable over long distances, whereas others are only local.

The aquifers are separated by confining units of clay, silt,and silty or clayey sand. Although water moves more readily through the aquifers than through the confining units, water does leak very slowly through the confining units, especially where they are thin or where they contain sand; the aquifers, therefore, are hydraulically interconnected to some degree.

A series of clay and silt confining layers separate the regional aquifers that are used for water supply (Masterson and others, 2015). Recharge enters the aquifer mostly from the outcrop areas in the landward part of the aquifer system, but some limited recharge comes from downward leakage through confining units.

The surficial aquifer is the uppermost aquifer in the aquifer system.  This aquifer consists of unconsolidated, locally gravelly sand, mostly of Quaternary age. Although a thin blanket of unconsolidated sediments makes up the uppermost Coastal Plain beds over wide areas, these sediments generally yield small volumes of water to rural and domestic wells. Water in the surficial aquifer is especially susceptible to contamination by human activities and saltwater intrusion. 

The Chesapeake aquifer underlies the surficial aquifer in most places, but the two aquifers are separated by a clayey confining unit that significantly slows the downward movement of groundwater, though does not prevent it. The Chesapeake aquifer consists mostly of sand beds of Miocene age.

The Piney Point-Castle Hayne aquifers and the Potomac-Magothy aquifers (which include Mago[1]thy, Potomac-Patapsco, and Potomac-Patuxent aquifers) are aquifers in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system that are the primary sources of groundwater for public supply (Masterson and others, 2015). The Potomac aquifer in Virginia comprises part of the regional Potomac aquifer system, which also includes the Potomac-Patapsco aquifer and Potomac-Patuxent aquifer in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

The Potomac aquifer is a confined aquifer that once formed artesian wells prior to being de-pressurized. The Potomac aquifer is several thousand feet thick for much of the Coastal Plain and contains hundreds of trillions of gallons of pressurized water. Unfortunately, what once seemed like a vast never-ending resource is being overused. In Virginia approximately 155million gallons of groundwater is pumped from the Potomac aquifer each and everyday.

The first hint of a problem was a drastic reduction the pressure of the confined water. Water no longer rose to the surface without lift pumps. Then the groundwater level began to fall. Deeper wells were needed to access water. This was followed by aquifer compaction – and now, land subsidence, saltwater intrusion and increased vulnerability to sea level rise.

This groundwater provides much of the drinking water in the Hampton Roads area. There is only Beaverdam Lake reservoir on the Coastal Plain of the Middle Peninsula that supplies drinking water, and no drinking water reservoirs on the Northern Neck. North of the York River almost all of the public and private drinking water comes from groundwater.  The rate of groundwater withdrawal from the Potomac Aquifer is currently unsustainable.

Groundwater in the Coastal Plain region in eastern Virginia is being used up. This has been confirmed by measurements of groundwater levels, modeling of the aquifer system by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and measurements of changes in gravity by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA). Reducing water use in the region to a sustainable level for the Potomac Aquifer would be economically devastating and quite frankly, an impossible task. You can’t take away water without a fight. We are left with either adding reservoirs and surface water systems or utilizing the water storage capacity of the groundwater aquifer. Like many parts of the country and Northern Virginia, the Hampton Roads area has turned their sights on reusing wastewater to supplement the drinking water supply. Their plan is to utilize the existing storage in the groundwater system.  

For 40 years Los Angeles County has recycled the water from wastewater treatments plants. This water from both secondary and tertiary treated wastewater is discharged into spreading basins on the surface to recharge groundwater. Groundwater recharge can be done by surface spreading or direct injection wells. It has long been know that soil filtration improves water quality and soil column studies with secondary effluent from wastewater treatment has shown dissolved organic carbon removal of about half by percolation through 20 feet of various soil types. However, the 40 years experience has found trace contaminants from disinfection by products in the groundwater.

Recharging an aquifer has lower capital costs than dam and reservoir construction, but carries risks and challenges.. The first challenge is geologic. The predominant geology of this area of Virginia makes the usual methods of artificial recharge- spreading basins almost impossible. Without using injection wells, to deliver water  directly into an aquifer it would not be practical. Artificially recharged water must first move through the clay zone and the only effective method is to use a recharging well. This method has risks, big risks. We are potentially introducing trace contaminants, precursors of disinfection byproducts, trace Pharmaceuticals and personal care products and many other unknow contaminants  from our modern world into our groundwater aquifers. Before we use reclaimed wastewater to recharge the groundwater aquifer to augment supply, we need to fully understand what contaminants (and emerging contaminants) survive treatment and are carried in the wastewater to the aquifer.

Enter the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) project. It proposes to replenish the Potomac aquifer, eastern Virginia’s primary groundwater supply, with purified water. This purified water would be treated to be compatible with the existing water in the aquifer to ensure seamless integration into the system and introduced by recharge wells drilled at seven of the 13 Hampton Roads service District wastewater treatment plant sites. Recharge wells store water for future use by placing it deep underground into formations below the shallow soil layer.

This is a great concept, but the question remains is it possible to do safely in practice in Virginia? Currently, wastewater (sewage) travels through multiple levels of treatment at Hampton Roads Service District, HRSD’s, 13 wastewater treatment plants to ensure it meets regulatory discharge levels of particular contaminants that are measured and are protective of aquatic life and public health. With the SWIFT project, the treated wastewater will undergo additional treatment procedures in the Advanced Water Treatment Process to treat it even further in order to meet stringent drinking water standards. Right now, at the research center in Suffolk, Virginia a million gallons of day of treated wastewater is being further treated to meet the higher drinking water standards and pH and oxygen levels of the aquifer and is injected at low pressure to a well with open slotting between 500 and 1,400 feet below grade into the aquifer.

The groundwater aquifer serves to dilute the trace contaminants that survive the treatment plant, but we need to be honest and informed about what we are putting into or leaving in what is ultimately our drinking water supply. The water of the Potomac Aquifer has been protected for a millennium from man’s arrogance and lack of knowledge. Now we are injecting what we believe to be clean water directly into this water body. With plans to inject a million gallons of reclaimed water a day.

Maybe we should pump this water directly into the drinking water distribution system in Hampton Roads for a few decades to make sure there are no unexpected consequences before we pump a million gallons a day into the aquifer. The solution to pollution may not be dilution.

Karst Terrain and Groundwater

 

The carbonate-rock aquifers are the predominate aquifer in the Valley and Ridge (V&R) of Virginia; however, there are areas in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge (P&BR) that also contain carbonate-rock aquifers. In total the carbonate rock aquifers underlie an area with a population of more than 40 million people in 10 states.

Where carbonate rocks are exposed at land surface or are overlain by only a thin layer of confining material they are easily dissolved by rain. As rain falls it absorbs some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and from organic matter in soil. As the water percolates through the soil the weak carbonic acid water dissolves limestone and dolomite by enlarging pores between grains of limestone or fractures in the rock.

Over time these openings become larger as more of the acidic water moves through the aquifer; eventually the openings may be tens of feet in diameter. The end result of dissolution of carbonate rocks is a type of topography called karst- characterized by caves and sinkholes.

Water-supply wells drilled into the carbonate aquifers in karst terrain are generally more productive than wells that tap other rock types. The carbonate aquifers, due to the presence of dissolution channels, are very vulnerable to contamination from the surface. The carbonate aquifers are particularly vulnerable where sinkholes allow for the relatively rapid movement of contaminants into and through the aquifer. In some areas, the carbonate aquifers are locally isolated from the surface by thick layers of clay or shale that can impede the downward movement of water and contaminants.

The carbonate aquifers of the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province, formed during Appalachian mountain building, have highly variable karst aquifer characteristics. The Valley and Ridge, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge Aquifers demonstrate karst features such as caves, sinkholes, sinking streams, and conduits. They are still used as a major drinking water supply for individuals and public supply, but without careful management these wells can become problematic.

The combined Valley and Ridge and Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers of all type rank second in the Nation as a source of groundwater for private domestic supply, providing about 470 million gallons per day (Arnold and others, 2016). The Valley and Ridge and Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers are also an important source of public supply, providing about 195 million gallons per day. Land use overlying the Valley and Ridge and Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers is mostly undeveloped (49 %), agricultural (35 %), and urban land (17 %).

Valley and Ridge and Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers in Virginia and were evaluated by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project, which began in2012 and continued through 2021. Below are excerpts from that evaluation. The above information was taken from the USGS Groundwater Atlas of the United States.

Samples were analyzed for 34 trace elements and major and minor ions. Contaminants from this group were detected at high concentrations in about 10 % of the study area (at the depth zone used for public supply) and at moderate concentrations in about 5 %. Arsenic, manganese, and strontium were the only trace elements detected at high concentrations.

Samples were analyzed for eight radioactive contaminants, of which four have human-health benchmarks. Radioactive constituents were detected at high levels in about 3 % of the study area, but were not detected at moderate levels. Gross alpha activity was the only constituent detected at high concentrations.

Samples were analyzed for five nutrients, of which two have human-health benchmarks. Common sources of nutrients include fertilizer applied to crops and landscaping, seepage from septic systems, and human and animal waste. Nutrients were detected at high concentrations in about 2 % of the study area and at moderate concentrations in about 11 %. Nitrate was the only nutrient detected at high concentrations.

Some constituents affect the aesthetic properties of water, such as taste, color, and odor, or can create nuisance problems, such as staining and scaling. Samples were analyzed for 11 constituents that have SMCLs. One or more of these were present at high concentrations or values relative to the SMCL in about 15 % of the study area and at moderate concentrations in about 18 %.

Total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration is a measure of the salinity of the groundwater, and all water naturally contains TDS as a result of the weathering and dissolution of minerals in rocks and sediments. The TDS concentrations can be high because of natural factors or as a result of human activities, such as applications to the land surface of road salt, fertilizers, or other chemicals in urban or agricultural areas. The TDS concentrations were high in about 5 % of the study area.

Iron and manganese were both present at high concentrations relative to the SMCL in about 5 % of the study area. Sulfate was present at high concentrations in about 2 % of the study area. In a few samples, the pH of groundwater was not in the SMCL range of 6.5–8.5. In those cases, the pH was less than 6.5; such waters are considered acidic and potentially corrosive.

VOCs were detected at moderate concentrations in 2 percent of the study area. The only VOC detected at moderate concentrations was chloroform.

Samples were analyzed for 227 pesticide compounds (pesticides and their breakdown products), of which 119 have human-health benchmarks. Pesticide compounds were not detected at high or moderate concentrations in the study area.

The Piedmont and Blue Ridge Groundwater

About half of the nation’s population relies on groundwater for drinking water. As the nation’s population grows, the need for high-quality drinking-water supplies becomes ever more urgent. The USGS has identified 68 principal aquifers in the United States, these are regionally extensive aquifers that are used as sources of drinking water.

Groundwater pumped from these primary aquifers provides nearly 50% of the nation’s drinking water. Twenty of these principal aquifers account for about three quarters of the nation’s groundwater pumped for public supply. These aquifers also provide 85 % of the groundwater pumped for domestic (private) supply. Three of these principal aquifers are in Virginia and were evaluated by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project, which began in2012 and continued through 2021. Below are excerpts from the evaluation of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge aquifers and information taken from the USGS Groundwater Atlas of the United States.

The Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers underlie an area with a population of more than 25 million people in 11 states (map). The Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers, together with the other rock types in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions, rank second in the Nation as a source of groundwater for private domestic supply, providing about 360 million gallons per day (Arnold and others, 2017a).

These aquifers are also an important source of public supply, and about 92 million gallons per day are pumped for that use. Land use overlying the Piedmont and Blue Ridge crystalline-rock aquifers is mostly undeveloped (71 %) and agricultural (19 %). The cities of Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, overlie the aquifers, as well as suburbs of Richmond, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Piedmont and Blue Ridge Provinces are underlain by three principal types of bedrock aquifers. In order of decreasing area, these are crystalline-rock and undifferentiated sedimentary-rock aquifers, aquifers in early Mesozoic basins, and carbonate-rock aquifers. Unconsolidated aquifers that are part of the surficial aquifer system overlie the bedrock aquifers locally in Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey.

Crystalline-Rock and Undifferentiated Sedimentary-Rock Aquifers are the most widespread aquifers in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Provinces. These aquifers extend over about 49,000 square miles, or about 86 % of the area, of these provinces. Most of the rocks that make up crystalline-rock and undifferentiated sedimentary-rock aquifers are crystalline metamorphic and igneous rocks of many types. The main types of crystalline rocks are coarse-grained gneisses and schists of various mineral composition; however, fine-grained rocks, such as phyllite and metamorphosed volcanic rocks, are common in places.

Unconsolidated material called regolith overlies the crystalline-rock and undifferentiated sedimentary-rock aquifers almost everywhere. Because the regolith material varies greatly in thickness, composition, and grain size, its hydraulic properties also vary greatly. However, the regolith is more permeable than the underlying bedrock. Water in the bedrock is stored in and moves through fractures, which form the only effective porosity in the bedrock.

Early Mesozoic rift basins are spread out in the Piedmont Province and occupy about 9 % of the combined area of the Blue Ridge and the Piedmont Provinces. Aquifers in early Mesozoic basins are primarily in three major basins-the Newark Basin in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is the largest basin and the one from which the most ground water is withdrawn; second largest is the Gettysburg Basin of Pennsylvania and Maryland; and third is the Culpeper Basin of Virginia.

The Culpeper Basin of northern Virginia and Maryland is an elongate, fault-bounded trough that trends north-northeast from the southern border of Madison County, Va., about 90 miles to Frederick County, Md. All the formations in the basin are part of the Culpeper Group. The lower part of the group consists of sandstone, siltstone, and conglomerate of Late Triassic age; the upper part consists of Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks and interbedded basaltic lava flows.

The water in the Culpeper Basin is the least impacted by iron, manganese and sulfate in the region and of only moderate hardness. My home overlies a section of the Culpeper basin that runs through all but one small corner of northwestern Prince William County. I chose this area for the water. It requires no treatment.

Carbonate-Rock supports the largest aquifers in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge. Limestone, dolomite, and marble of Paleozoic and Precambrian age form carbonate-rock aquifers that extend over about 3 % of the Piedmont and the Blue Ridge Provinces. Although these carbonate rocks are of small extent, they are significant local sources of water. Carbonate-rock aquifers are in five areas of the Piedmont and the Blue Ridge Provinces. In addition to these areas, small, isolated elongate stringers of limestone and marble form minor aquifers locally, particularly in Virginia, and generally trend parallel to the Blue Ridge front.

Recharge is highly variable in the Blue Ridge and the Piedmont Provinces because it is determined by local precipitation and runoff, which are highly variable and are influenced by topographic relief, ground cover, compaction and the capacity of the land surface to accept infiltrating water. 

Most of the Piedmont and the Blue Ridge Provinces are covered by regolith. Compared to the Blue Ridge, the gentler topographic relief of the Piedmont and less precipitation make the Piedmont less subject to rapid denudation than the Blue Ridge and thus favor the accumulation of a thicker regolith. The combination of large areas of thin regolith and dense bedrock with minimal permeability in the Blue Ridge Province do not favor large amounts of ground-water recharge. These areas have a limited ability to provide water.

Almost all recharge is from precipitation that enters the aquifers through the porous regolith. Much of the recharge water moves laterally through the regolith and discharges to a nearby stream or depression during or shortly after a storm or precipitation event. Some of the water, however, moves downward through the regolith until it reaches the bedrock where it enters fractures in crystalline rocks and sandstones or solution openings in carbonate rocks.

The USGS Aquifer Studies were designed to evaluate groundwater used for public supply prior to any treatment. Groundwater quality was assessed by comparing contaminant concentrations to regulatory limits established for drinking water quality.  Trace elements and major and minor ions are naturally present in the minerals of rocks, soils and sediments, and in the water that comes into contact with those materials.

The USGS sampled 60 wells at depths that a used for public supply wells: 150-700 feet beneath grade. Samples were analyzed for 90 VOCs, of which 38 have human-health benchmarks. VOCs were detected at moderate concentrations in 5 percent of the study area but were not detected at high concentrations. Compounds detected at moderate concentrations were the disinfection byproduct chloroform and the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE).

Manganese was found to be present at high concentrations relative to the SMCL in about 15 % of the study wells. Iron was present at high concentrations relative to the SMCL in about 12 % of the wells.

Samples were analyzed for 227 pesticide compounds (pesticides and their breakdown products), of which 119 have human-health benchmarks. Pesticides were not detected at high or moderate concentrations in the study

In some areas, the pH of the groundwater was not in the SMCL range of 6.5 to 8.5. The pH did not meet the standard in 35 % of the study area, typically because it was less than 6.5, which is acidic and potentially corrosive.

The total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration is a usually considered a measure of the salinity of the groundwater, though all water naturally contains TDS as a result of the weathering and dissolution of minerals in rocks and sediments. Concentrations of TDS can be high because of natural factors or as a result of human activities such as applications of road salt, fertilizers, or other chemicals to the land surface in urban or agricultural areas. Concentrations of TDS were high in about 3 % of the study area. Chloride, fluoride, and sulfate—constituents that also contribute to TDS concentrations—were detected at moderate, but elevated concentrations.

Radioactivity is the release of energy or energetic particles during spontaneous decay of unstable atoms. Most of the radioactivity in groundwater comes from the decay of isotopes of uranium and thorium that are naturally present in minerals in aquifer materials. Samples were analyzed for eight radioactive constituents, of which four have human-health limits for drinking water. The USGS found radioactive constituents were present at high levels in about 30 % of the study area and at moderate levels in about 17 %. Radon (using the proposed alternative maximum contaminant level of 4,000 picocuries per liter) and gross-alpha activity were the only constituents that were present at high concentrations. Radium (combined concentration of Ra-226 and Ra-228 isotopes) was detected at moderate concentrations in 2% of the study area.

Nutrients are naturally present at low concentrations in groundwater; high and moderate concentrations (relative to human-health benchmarks) generally result from human activities. Samples were analyzed for five nutrients, of which two have human health benchmarks. Common sources of nutrients, aside from soils, include fertilizer applied to crops and landscaping, seepage from septic systems, and human and animal waste. No nutrients were detected at high concentrations in the study area. Nitrate was detected at moderate concentrations in about 3% of the study area.

 

Occoquan Watershed

Recently, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved the development of the Preserve at Long Branch, rezoning a portion of the Rural Crescent. No analysis was done as to the potential impact of this development to the hydrology of the Occoquan Watershed.  There is no understanding what the impact this might have to the sustainability of the drinking water supply of adjacent property well owners and the quality of the Occoquan Reservoir itself. 

Occoquan Watershed

The Occoquan Reservoir is an important part of our drinking water supply. The Occoquan supplies about 40% of the clean drinking water for around 2 million people and, in an emergency, can supply all for a short period of time. The reservoir’s current storage capacity is estimated by ICPRB to be 8.3 billion gallons. Prince William land accounts for 40% of the Occoquan watershed which contains 1,300 stream miles, Lake Jackson and Lake Manassas as well as the Occoquan Reservoir.  Water from the Occoquan Reservoir is distributed to customers in Fairfax and Prince William Counties. This water is essential. 

Development impacts water quality. Minimizing impervious surface cover and maintaining the tree canopy is critical to the protection of the County’s streams which flow to the Occoquan and other reservoirs. There is a direct correlation between stream health and impervious surface cover and tree canopy. According to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, watersheds with impervious surface cover of 10 to 15% show clear signs of degradation, while watersheds with impervious surface cover greater than 25% typically do not support a diverse stream ecology and are dying.

During development the primary impact is erosion and sediment that are carried by stormwater into the streams. The primary post-development impact is increased stormwater volume and velocity that is caused by the removal of tree canopy cover and the replacement of pervious surfaces of plants and grass with the impervious surfaces such as roads, parking lots, rooftops, driveways, patios, etc.

Development increases impervious surface area, and this has created in the past and will in the future create a host of concerns for managing the Occoquan Watershed. For instance, the physical condition of the Watershed's tributaries has been measured to fall with development. Increased stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces flows into streams and creeks at a higher volume and velocity. The result is increased erosion of stream banks that leaves a degraded ecosystem.

The Occoquan Watershed is more than just a source of water for the Reservoir. In addition to its role as an essential portion of the drinking water system for approximately 1.2 million Northern Virginians, the Reservoir and the Watershed also serves to improve water quality:

• The Reservoir is an essential element in meeting the Chesapeake Bay TMDL by trapping sediments and nutrients. According to the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab (OWML) the Reservoir captured 34% of total nitrogen, 56% of total phosphorus, and 83% of total sediment.
• The downzoned portion of the Watershed within Fairfax and the Rural Crescent serve as a natural water treatment system and high quality ecological habitat.
• The Reservoir is a regional recreational asset.

Prince William has ignored its responsibility to best manage the Occoquan watershed in conjunction with Fairfax County’s management of Occoquan Reservoir (and their side of the Watershed) maintaining the primary benefit of the Reservoir as an essential and reliable source of safe, clean drinking water for Prince William County and the importance of the Reservoir as an integrated ecological and hydrological system with multiple uses.

Be Counted in Prince William

Prince William County and the Board of County Supervisors has begun the 2021-2024 Strategic Planning process. The Strategic Plan Development Team consists of Board appointees and County staff members. Part of the process requires community input and feedback that will help ensure resources are targeted to the most important and critical needs of Prince William County. Just by filling out the quick survey (linked below) from the Planning Department your opinion will be counted and your voice heard.

However, the survey has entirely overlooked sustainable water. Prince William County is planning for a future where they do not guarantee that all residents have an adequate, good quality and sustainable water supply. Sustainability of groundwater is hyper-local. Little is known about the sustainability of our groundwater basins in Prince William County, but potential problems are still at a manageable stage. We need to know if the current and planned use of our groundwater is sustainable even in drought years. We need to understand how ground cover by roads, parking lots and buildings will impact groundwater recharge and what level of groundwater withdrawals are sustainable on site to determine if a proposed change in land use or additional use of groundwater is sustainable before it is granted. We need to understand our groundwater and plan for sustainable water.

When I replaced my pump last spring, I took the opportunity to have my static water level measured. The measured level was 43 feet below grade. Sixteen years ago when the well was installed the static water level was 30 feet below grade. Though the recharge is still good it appears that the groundwater table is falling- 13 feet in 16 years. My neighborhood of 10 acre homes was built about 16 years ago. Groundwater levels can be affected by how many other wells draw from the aquifer, how much groundwater is being used in the surrounding area for agricultural, private or public supply, or how much groundwater is being recharged.

Development of an area can impact groundwater recharge. Land use changes that increases impervious cover from roads, pavement and buildings does two things. It reduces the open area for rain and snow to seep into the ground and percolate into the groundwater and the impervious surfaces cause stormwater velocity to increase preventing water from having enough time to percolate into the earth, increasing storm flooding and preventing recharge of groundwater from occurring. Slowly, over time, this can reduce groundwater supply and the water table falls.

The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, maintains a group of groundwater monitoring wells in Virginia that measure groundwater conditions daily and can be viewed online. Only one of wells is a few miles northwest of here just west of Route 15. The land use around that well has not changed in decades. Daily monitoring data available from that well go back to 2004 (other records exist covering 39 years 1975-2014, but are no longer available on line). What can be seen in the graph below is the slow decline in the water level despite not experiencing any significant droughts since 2008 and having the wettest year on record in 2018. The decline is modest over this period compared to my well, but will continue and get worse over time especially if demand for groundwater is increased and impervious surfaces continue to grow, reducing recharge.

We need to plan for sustainable groundwater for private use and the public supply wells that still draw on groundwater. Please fill out the survey and WRITE IN SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER and Adequate and Sustainable Water. 

from USGS

The County says that they are compiling demographic data because they would like responses from a broad cross-section of the community. They assure us all responses are anonymous. Here is the link for the survey and please share it with your neighbors and have all our voices counted.

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5635864/2021-2024-Strategic-Plan-Survey

Middleburg Preserve

The Army Corp of Engineers is accepting comments on the Mojax LLC proposal for a residential development north of Snake Hill Road and west of its intersection with McQuay Lane in Loudoun County, Virginia. This area is northwest of the Salamander Resort near Mt. Zion Baptist Church of St. Louis.

Mojax LLC proposes to build a clustered residential subdivision of 30 homes and associated infrastructure. The project is one part of a development called Middleburg Preserve I & II and will impact 1.71 acres of palustrine forested wetlands and 0.12 acre of palustrine emergent wetlands. The expected environmental impacts to the area are associated with 30 residential buildings, driveways, walkways, patios, utilities and a stormwater-management facility. The proposed homes will all be on sewer, but obtain their water from private wells.

The developer proposes that they will avoid and minimize impacts to the maximum extent practicable, and mitigation for all wetland impacts will be provided by credit purchase from approved wetland and stream banks or the Virginia Aquatic Restoration Trust Fund.

Changing the character of the rural area of Loudoun County to include cluster development houses  could impact future water availability to the existing residents and impact sustainability of groundwater and base flow to our rivers. The developer drilled a series of test wells; two drew 50 gallons per minute and others drew 40, 35, 20 and 15 gallons per minute, flow rate in this geology does not in any way show that the wells will be sustainable in the long run. Nor does it demonstrate that these new wells will not impact existing nearby wells. The increase in ground cover by the development would reduce recharge of the groundwater while the 30 additional households would increase demand for water.

The USGS and NASA tells us that the groundwater basin is under stress. In a study published in 2013 in Science, "Water in the Balance," researchers looked at the ten year trend in groundwater in the United States. The lead author was Jay Famiglietti, at the time he was a professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and Director of the UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling (UCCHM). The co-author was Matt Rodell, Chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Using data from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites collected over a 10 year period they were able to track changing groundwater availability all over the United States and the world. The GRACE satellites were launched in 2002 and were replaced in 2018 with the second mission satellites. The data set was for 2003 through 2013. Their data found that the groundwater mass in the Virginia Piedmont region decreased over the ten years of the study.

The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, maintains a group of groundwater monitoring wells in Virginia that measure groundwater conditions. Only three of the Virginia wells are within Loudoun County and none are in the area of concern. Loudoun County maintains 17 groundwater monitoring wells most that had 6 years of data at the last report and not enough to yet view a trend. There are more than 14,500 active water supply wells in Loudoun County. The median depth of wells drilled in Loudoun County has increased from 150 feet in the 1960’s to the current median of 410 feet. The increase has allowed wells to be drilled cheaper, quicker and deeper to provide increased water storage and wells less subject to drought, but trends in water recharge become harder to see.

Other adjacent areas in Fauquier and Prince William in fractured rock systems of the Culpeper groundwater basin have shown that water level is slowly falling after allowing for the seasonality of groundwater recharge. The decline observed has been modest in most rural areas, but will continue and get worse over time especially if demand for groundwater is increased and impervious surfaces continue to grow, reducing recharge. The USGS and VA DEQ are engaged in a multiyear study of groundwater resources in Fauquier County due to the problems they have been having with the availability and quality of their groundwater.

Middleburg Preserve is a by-right-use of the slightly over 19 acres, and does not need a special use permit. However, a portion of the property is wetlands so the Army Corp of Engineers permit is required. Work began on the site about two years ago, starting with clearing of land and more recently, the drilling of test wells. The land clearing caused Loudoun County to issue a stop work order because a permit had not been obtained.

The Corps of Engineers states that Preliminary review indicates:

(1) no Environmental Impact Statement will be required;
(2) after conducting an Endangered Species Act Review, though the northern long-eared bat may be affected, but no further action is required;
(3) known properties eligible for inclusion or included in the National Register of Historic Places are in or near the permit area and would likely be affected by the proposal.

If you have any comments on this project, you can make them in writing. They can be sent by email to ron.h.stouffer@usace.army.mil, or regular mail, addressed to: Norfolk District, Corps of Engineers, Northern Virginia Field Office, 18139 Triangle Plaza, Suite 213, Dumfries, Virginia 22026. All comments should be received by close of business June 13.

Arizona Rural Groundwater being Shipped Around the Globe

In 1980 Arizona passed a law regulating groundwater in Phoenix, Tucson, and other populated, mostly urban areas. The law left the rest of the state without limits to drilling for or pumping groundwater. Though there have been several attempts to expand the law, all have failed including the most recent attempt this past spring. Outside of active groundwater management areas or irrigation non-expansion areas anyone in Arizona can drill a well and use unlimited amounts of groundwater.

According to a 2019 investigation by the Arizona Republic, the water levels has dropped more than 100 feet in some rural areas including this one. “The Arizona Republic analyzed water-level data for more than 33,000 wells throughout Arizona. The investigation found the water levels in nearly one in four wells in Arizona’s groundwater monitoring program have dropped more than 100 feet since they were drilled, a loss that scientists and water experts say is likely irrecoverable.” Read the Arizona Republic’s excellent coverage of the building water crisis at this link.

The recent growth in groundwater pumping has been attributed to large industrial farms; many from out of state and out of country including the Saudi holdings. In 2014 alone the Saudi dairy Almarai bought 15 square miles of farmland in western Arizona in an unregulated groundwater area. In some of the communities in non-managed groundwater areas where it is no longer feasible for the homeowner with a private well to access water because the water table has fallen so far. Arizona has to a large extent ignored the problem because only about 20% of the state’s population has been impacted in any way, and many homeowners only know they have a problem when their well goes dry.

In this dessert location groundwater was laid down over millennia ago and is not being recharged in any significant way. This is the only water that many rural communities can count on as the Southwest becomes hotter and drier with climate change. In addition, Arizona faces its first-ever mandatory cuts in Colorado River water withdrawals this year under an agreement that will shrink the amount of water that’s available to replenish aquifers in urban areas. With climate change projected to make the southwest drier and put strains on water from rivers, the urban center will need to pump more groundwater.

Big farming companies owned by out-of-state investors and foreign agriculture giants have purchase farmland in areas where there is no limit on pumping. It is about growing food. The Saudi Arabians are one of the foreign entities pumping massive amounts of groundwater to grow wheat. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula and have overdrawn their own aquifer.

Saudi Arabia has no perennial rivers though seasonally some surface water flows in the south east where annual rainfall of almost a foot falls between October and March. They have groundwater systems, but those systems have no natural recharge; unless they are artificially recharged they have a limited life span.

In 1975 it was estimated that Saudi Arabia was using less than 500 billion gallons of water a year for irrigation and a similar amount of water for industry and domestic use. Then water consumption and use changed dramatically. Driven by a government policy in support of achieving food security Saudi Arabia began using groundwater sources for irrigation and growing wheat and grains in the dessert. By 1980 the artesian wells that had fed the oasis’s ran dry, and at its peak in 1999-2000 pumped almost 5 trillion gallons of water in a single year for agricultural irrigation exporting wheat to its neighbors.

The Saudis calculated their water reserves and realized that they had been sacrificing water security for food security and began a program to import food and farm in other countries, limit groundwater pumping and build desalination plants. The farming operations in Arizona desert are simply implementing the unsustainable groundwater use practices that threatened their water security at home to the United States. Arizona does not have coastal access to even consider desalination in the future.

It is not just the Saudis, I am singling them out because their actions are informed and egregious. Mankind uses a lot of water. According to a group of researchers in the Netherlands who have been studying, quantifying and mapping national water footprints since the beginning of this century, mankind uses 9,087 billion cubic meters of water each year. Most of the water use is for agricultural production an estimated 92% when utilization of rainwater is counted.

The water we use is our water footprint. When we think about our use of water, we think of our domestic use of water in our homes for drinking, food preparation, washing clothes and dishes, bathing , and flushing toilets, watering lawns and gardens or maintaining pools, ponds, hosing off patios and decks, washing cars and similar activities. However, most of our water footprint is the water used to produce the food we eat and more and more that food is traveling the globe. That would be fine in areas where the groundwater is recharging and being used sustainably or where agriculture is irrigated from rain captured in farm ponds, but not when the groundwater is not being recharged in any meaningful way.The future of Arizona is being shipped in ton after ton of alfalfa shipped to Saudi Arabia for their dairies.

Supreme Court Allows but Limits Clean Water Act's Oversight of Groundwater Discharge

Under the Clean Water Act “point sources” of pollution, those being discharged from a pipe, are required to obtain permits for “any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters.” The County of Maui’s wastewater reclamation facility collects sewage from the surrounding area, only partially treats it, and each day pumps around 4 million gallons of treated water into the ground through four wells. This effluent then travels about a half mile, through groundwater, to the Pacific Ocean.

Several environmental groups brought a citizens’ Clean Water Act suit, against Maui alleging that Maui was “discharging” a “pollutant” to “navigable waters” without the required permit. The District Court found that the discharge from Maui’s wells into the nearby groundwater was “functionally one into navigable water,” 24 F. Supp. 3d 980, 998, and granted summary judgment to the environmental groups. Maui appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court which affirmed the lower court’s decision, stating that a permit is required when “pollutants are fairly traceable from the point source to a navigable water.” 886 F. 3d 737, 749. Maui then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court. Writing for the majority, Justice Breyer rejected both sides’ positions in the case as too extreme. The Maui and the Solicitor General had argued that discharges into groundwater were never covered under the Clean Water Act, while environmental groups suing the county said the law applied to discharges that “actually and foreseeably reach navigable surface waters.”

The standard from the Ninth Circuit Court was too broad, Justice Breyer wrote. “Virtually all water, polluted or not, eventually makes its way to navigable water,” he wrote. The question courts should ask, he wrote, was whether “the addition of the pollutants through groundwater is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge from the point source into navigable waters.”

The Ninth Circuit’s “fairly traceable” standard could allow EPA to assert permitting authority over the release of pollutants that reach navigable waters many years after their release and would include all septic systems and other non-point discharges. But Congress did not intend to provide EPA with such broad authority.

On the other hand, Maui argues that the meaning of “from any point source” is not about where the pollution originated, but about how it got there. Thus, Maui claims, a permit is required only if a point source ultimately delivers the pollutant to navigable waters. The Supreme Court found that Maui’s reading would create a serious loophole in the permitting regime also indicates that it is unreasonable. That argument would allow any discharger to bypass the permitting process by utilizing groundwater as a conveyance. 

In the opinion of the majority Justice Breyer wrote;” The reading of the statute that best captures Congress’ meaning, reflected in the statute’s words, structure, and purposes, is that a permit is required when there is a discharge from a point source directly into navigable waters or when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge... Many factors may be relevant to determining whether a particular discharge is the functional equivalent of one directly into navigable waters. Time and distance will be the most important factors in most cases, but other relevant factors may include, e.g., the nature of the material through which the pollutant travels and the extent to which the pollutant is diluted or chemically changed as it travels. Courts will provide additional guidance through decisions in individual cases... Although this interpretation does not present as clear a line as the other interpretations proffered, the EPA has applied the permitting provision to some discharges through groundwater for over 30 years, with no evidence of inadministrability or an unmanageable expansion in the statute’s scope. Pp. 15–18.”

The case was remanded back to the lower court.

Space X Launches new GRACE for NASA

Near the end of May, SpaceX conducted its tenth launch of the year using the flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket . In that launch, Space X’s Falcon 9 deployed five commercial Iridium communications satellites and the GRACE Follow-On Earth science mission for NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

The dual-satellite GRACE Follow-On mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), is a successor to the GRACE satellites that ceased operations last year after fifteen years of service. In January, NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences announced that a SpaceX Falcon 9 would carry the two GRACE-FO satellites as well as five Iridium Next communications satellites into low earth orbit. Originally, it was expected to launch in early 2018, according to NASA’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal.

The Grace Follow-On satellites had been booked to fly aboard Dnepr, while Iridium had contracted for launches of the Russian vehicle to carry pairs of its spacecraft into orbit for testing. This was not possible due in part to the political situation with Russia . Iridium and the GFZ – who are responsible for arranging GRACE’s ride to orbit – agreed to share a launch on SpaceX’s more powerful Falcon 9 rocket, splitting the costs.

While similar in design to GRACE, GRACE-FO incorporates lessons learned from 15 years of GRACE operations. The changes made will improve the new mission’s satellite performance and reliability, as well as mission operations. GRACE-FO will also fly a technology demonstration of a new, more precise inter-satellite laser ranging interferometer, developed by a German/U.S. instrument team, for use in future generations of GRACE-like missions.GRACE maps Earth's gravity field by making accurate measurements of the distance between the two satellites, using GPS and a microwave ranging system. This allows scientists all over the world an efficient and accurate way to map Earth's gravity field.

GRACE data has provided a global picture of water storage trends for over a decade and could be an invaluable tool for understanding water resource availability. The GRACE mission is able to monitor monthly water storage changes on the planet. Regardless of whether water is solid, liquid or vapor, visible or invisible, it has mass, which exerts a gravitational pull. By tracking the changing pull of gravity very precisely around Earth, the U.S./German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission observed the movement of water around our planet from 2002 to 2017 -- from the top of the Himalayas to the depths of the ocean to deep underground. GRACE Follow-On will continue GRACE’s critical mission of tracking the evolution of Earth’s water cycle by monitoring changes in the distribution of mass on Earth.

Maintaining a consistent, continuous climate data record of water and mass transport in the Earth system over decades is essential to understand and differentiate short-term climate variability from long-term climate change. Because some climate patterns take several decades to unfold, the only way to determine whether a multi-year trend is representative of a long-term change is to extend the length of the observational record. Monitoring changes in ice sheets and glaciers, underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, and changes in sea level provides a unique view of Earth’s evolving climate and its water and energy cycles, with far-reaching societal benefits.

• Tracking mass changes of Earth's polar ice sheets. 
• Estimating global groundwater storage changes. 
• Measuring mass changes caused by large earthquakes. 
• Inferring changes in deep ocean currents, a driving force in climate. 

Water Level Shows Seasonality and Rain’s Impact on Wells

The recent rains in this part of Virginia not only allowed me to find four leaks in my roof where the solar panel rack was not flashed and the black jack finally failed, but also restored the groundwater aquifer to 8 feet below grade after a dry winter when levels fell to 12 feet below grade. If your water is supplied by a well, you need to be aware of the condition of the groundwater aquifer that supplies your well and live within your water resources. There are dry years and wet years and water will vary, though it is not always obvious.

The groundwater aquifer you tap for water is not seen, but you still need to be aware of your water budget and live within it. The daily household water needs here in Virginia is about 75 gallons/day per person according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The water level in the aquifer that supplies a well does not always stay the same. Droughts, seasonal variations in rainfall, and pumping affect the level of the water table as you can see in the graph above. If a well is pumped at a faster rate than the aquifer around it is recharged by precipitation or other underground flow, then water levels in the well can fall. This is what happens during times of drought and dry spells when there is little or no rain.

The quantity and quality of ground water in Prince William County varies across the county depending on the geologic and hydrogeologic group you are in. Within the county there are four distinct geologic provinces: (1) the Blue Ridge, (2) the Culpeper Basin, (3) the Piedmont, and (4) the Coastal Plain. The U.S. Geological Survey divides the four geologic provinces of the county into seven hydrogeologic groups based on the presence and movement of the ground water calling them groups: A, B, B1, C, D, E and F. The age of the groundwater in your well is dependent on the hydrogeologic group.

Direct determination of the groundwater level in your well requires a water level meter which most of us do not have, but a less direct indication of the status of your well might be obtained from a proxy well. The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, maintains a group of 171 groundwater monitoring wells in Virginia that measure groundwater conditions daily and can be viewed online. One of the Virginia wells is just up the road from me in the same hydrogeologic group and the ten year history of the well can be seen above. The seasonality of groundwater wells can be clearly seen in the graph.

The water level in a groundwater wells naturally fluctuates during the year. Groundwater levels tend to be highest in the early spring after winter snowmelt and spring rainfall when the groundwater is recharged. Groundwater levels begin to fall in May and typically continue to decline during summer as plants and trees use the available shallow groundwater to grow and streamflow draws water. Natural groundwater levels usually reach their lowest point in late September or October when fall rains begin to recharge the groundwater again. It is concerning that the monitoring well recorded several extreme lows.

This well is in hydrogeologic group B in the northwestern part of Prince William County and consists of sedimentary rocks of the Culpeper Basin. The predominant rock types are conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones, shales, and argillaceous limestones. This is a fractured rock system with moderate to excellent water-bearing potential with very little overburden. The highest reported yields in the county are from wells located in hydrogeologic group B and this is where I live. The downside to this formation is that the hydrogeologic group is susceptible to contamination- the fractures that carry water can easily spread a contaminant and without adequate overburden spills could flow to depth through a fracture. Another potential problem is in an extended drought there is limited storage, recharge is quick, though. As you can see below in hydrogeologic group B, the storms of this past April and May are clearly visible in the well monitoring data.

Groundwater is Limited

The U.S. Geological Survey released a report-USGS Professional Paper 1829 titled “Assessment of groundwater availability in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system From Long Island, New York, to North Carolina.” According to John Masterson, a USGS hydrologist and lead author of Professional Paper 1829, in the southern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer depletion of the groundwater aquifer, sustainability, is the biggest concern.

In the Virginia Coastal Plain the aquifers used for drinking-water supply typically are deep and not well connected to land surface. Pumping in this area therefore does not have a large effect on surface waters; however, the restricted connections between the deep aquifer and surface waters has lead to groundwater depletion. Although only 14 % of the total pumping from all aquifers in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain occurs in Virginia and North Carolina, it accounts for almost half of the total groundwater depletion in the entire aquifer system.

“In this area, most of the pumping occurs in the deep confined aquifers that are not well-connected to land surface and the water pumped from these wells isn’t groundwater that otherwise would have discharged to streams or to coastal estuaries,” said Masterson.

According to the USGS report groundwater depletion in the Virginia Coastal Plain is a real concern. As the aquifer is depleted the USGS expects the land to subside. This would cause the gradual lowering of the land surface in the Coastal Plain and would intensify the effects of local sea-level rise, particularly in the Lower Chesapeake Bay area in southern Virginia. In addition, in coastal areas, groundwater depletion can result in the landward encroachment of salty groundwater, diminishing the quality of the drinking water in this region.

In places like Long Island and New Jersey, also part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer, groundwater depletion is not a serious concern. There, shallow aquifers used for drinking-water supply are well connected to the land surface and easily replenished by rainwater that seeps into the ground as aquifer recharge. However, although there appears to be plenty of water available, removing any of it from the aquifer reduces the freshwater needed to keep streams flowing and support the marine life that depend on fresh groundwater discharge to coastal estuaries. According to John Masterson, “Pumping these wells captures the groundwater that otherwise would have become streamflow or gone to the estuaries. Reducing flows from aquifers to these surface waters, can result in adverse ecological effects.”

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studying groundwater availability in the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer system in 2010. This is part of its ongoing regional assessments of groundwater availability of the principal aquifers of the Nation. Smaller aquifers essential to the viability of many communities are not being studied. Over 30% of Virginia is reliant on groundwater for its drinking water supply more than half of them in smaller aquifer systems. Virginia is dependent on groundwater.


Increases in population and changes in land use during the past 100 years have resulted in increased demand for freshwater throughout the Commonwealth with groundwater serving as a vital source of drinking water for nearly 1.5 million people . According to the USGS water levels in many of the confined aquifers are decreasing by as much as 2 feet per year in response to extensive development that may have impacted recharge and increased groundwater withdrawals to supply growing population. Total water-level drawdowns are more than 100 feet in the Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer from their predevelopment (before 1900) level. Water resources must be managed beginning with the local planning for land use and development. 

There are already problems with availability, quality and sustainability of groundwater in Virginia in places such as Fauquier County, Loudoun County in addition to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. In the 21st Century it is now possible for NASA to measure groundwater depletion from space using their satellites. NASA found that over the first ten years (2003-2013) of data that they tracked all of Virginia’s groundwater aquifers were being depleted, using groundwater faster than it was being recharged.