We've almost had our fill about the Cascades ground water systems here on WaterWired, but not quite.
Earlier posts can be found here, here, and here. Not enough? Try this one. Or let's go back to October 2007. Get the picture? Maybe not, but there is a lot of interest in the 'vast' amount of water stored in the Cascades aquifer systems and how it will respond to climate change.
Colleague Gordon Grant (shown with some friends) of the U.S. Forest Service (he is also a courtesy professor in Geosciences here at Oregon State University) had an Op-Ed piece the other day in The Oregonian, Navigating a Change in Our Water Future.
His purpose was to show the accord among a number of Oregon water people regarding the resource, which has been known since the early 20th century. Its role in supporting streamflow is also well-known. But he's quoted on what we don't know:
This aquifer does not represent a new source of water so much as a large storage reservoir, whose full dimensions, extent and dynamics in response to drought and changing climate are still subjects of active research.
So it's the old climate-change bugaboo again. We don't know with certainty how the system will respond.
Grant concludes:
Navigating this uncertain future will require planning by knowledgeable water managers, policymakers and an informed public. While work is currently underway to better characterize our present and future water resources, we should consider investing in expanded data collection and further development of surface-water, groundwater and biological models to forecast the hydrologic and ecosystem responses to climate change.
In the long run, our common goal is to better understand and manage this valuable resource for the benefit of communities and ecosystems in Oregon.
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