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Water drain: Groundwater is not merely a local concern anymore, but a statewide issue, says editorial

Posted by: Maven on December 20, 2009 at 8:19 am

From the Riverside Press-Enterprise, this editorial:

“The days when Californians could sink a well and pump as much water as they wanted should have ended years ago. But the shrinking aquifers in the Central Valley show the need for the state to take a more active role in overseeing groundwater. California cannot craft sensible water policy by ignoring a source that accounts for 30 percent of the state’s water supplies.

At the least, the Legislature should require rigorous statewide monitoring of underground basins. And the state needs the enforcement muscle to stop pumping that threatens to dry up underground water supplies.

But satellite data released by NASA this week showed the futility of California’s hands-off approach to groundwater use. The satellite measurements tracked water loss between 2003 and March of this year. They revealed that the two largest aquifers in the Central Valley had lost nearly enough water to fill Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir. The water is being pumped out faster than it flows back in, depleting the underground basins — a practice NASA scientists termed “unsustainable.” … “

Read more from the Riverside Press-Enterprise by clicking here.

December 20, 2009 · Filed Under Groundwater

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