UPDATE, MAY 31
The name LeCuyer Creek was approved yesterday by the Washington
State Committee on Geographic Names. The name change now goes to
the state Board of Natural Resources, which sits as the state Board
of Geographic Names. Action is normally a formality. The name,
which will be recognized for state business, will be forwarded to
the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which is likely to adopt it for
federal actions as well.
—–
The late Jim LeCuyer, who developed a system of monitoring
rainfall, streamflow and groundwater levels in Kitsap County, could
be memorialized next week when a stream near Kingston is officially
named LeCuyer Creek.
Jim LeCuyer
The state’s Committee on Geographic Names will meet
TuesdayThursday to
consider the proposed stream name in honor of LeCuyer, who died in
2012 from a blood disorder.
Jim, who joined the Kitsap Public Utility District in 1984, came
to understand the water cycle on the Kitsap Peninsula perhaps
better than anyone else. When Jim took the job, one of the looming
questions for government officials was whether the peninsula would
have enough water to serve the massive influx of people who were
coming to Kitsap County.
“Jim started doing hydrological monitoring about 1991,” said
Mark Morgan, KPUD’s water resources manager who proposed the name
LeCuyer Creek. “What he developed became one of the best monitoring
systems in the state, some say on the West Coast.”
Overall, the Kitsap Peninsula is expected to have enough water
for people and fish for many years into the future, as long as the
water is managed well, according to a groundwater model developed
by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The model offers reassuring findings for residents of the Kitsap
Peninsula. It is also encouraging to see local water, sewer and
public works officials working together to plan for infiltrating
stormwater along with recycling wastewater for irrigation. Those
efforts will not only protect the peninsula’s water resources but
will save money for water customers.
Drilling for water on the
Kitsap Peninsula
Kitsap Sun file photo
Lonna Frans of the U.S. Geological Survey met this week with
members of WaterPAK — the Water Purveyors of Association of Kitsap
— to discuss the conclusions of a five-year, $1.4 million study of
water resources across the Kitsap Peninsula. Lonna said a final
written report should be available in about a month. (See website
Kitsap GW
model.)
The most impressive part of the groundwater model is the mapping
of geology across the entire peninsula, based on more than 2,100
well-driller logs that describe the type of soil at various depths.
Putting that information together provides a three-dimensional
picture of the underground structure, including sand and gravel
deposits, which contain water, along with layers of clay and
compressed soils, which slow down the water movement.
By monitoring water levels in 66 wells over time and accounting
for rainfall and groundwater withdrawals, the computer model
provides a dynamic picture of what happens under various
conditions. The model can be used to predict what will happen to
Kitsap’s aquifers under various rainfall scenarios, including long
periods of drought.
The model also can predict what will happen to streamflows under
various rainfall scenarios. The Kitsap Peninsula has no mountain
snowpack to supply the streams with water during dry summer months,
so the water must come from slow-moving underground supplies.
Now that the model is complete, it can be run for almost any
pattern of rainfall or drought that one wishes to dream up. For
example, running the model with average rainfall and no pumping at
all (close to a predevelopment condition) would bring the average
groundwater level up about 25 feet — although groundwater levels in
some places would be raised more than in other places.
Streamsflows under the no-pumping scenario would be an average
of about 2 percent higher — although this would be difficult to
measure with current instruments. Nobody would really notice the
difference.
If pumping across the peninsula were increased by 15 percent,
there would not be much difference in aquifers near the surface and
only a two- or three-foot drop in aquifers around sea level.
Streamflows would go down by a fraction of a percent but not enough
to notice.
Decreasing groundwater recharge by 15 percent, such as paving
over the landscape with new roads, houses and parking lots, would
have a greater effect on streamflows.
Again, not all areas on the peninsula will see the same effects.
The model can be used to zero in on specific streams and their
watersheds — although the smaller the area of study, the less
accurate the prediction is likely to be.
Bob Hunter, manager of Kitsap Public Utility District, said the
model can be used to predict the effects that new wells would have
on streamflows as the population grows. The model could advise
managers whether it would be advisable to pump certain wells at
certain times of the year and hold back at other times.
Kathleen Cahall, water resources manager for the city of
Bremerton, said the model can also be used to make sure
aquifer-recharge areas are protected and that industrial facilities
that store large quantities of chemicals are not located where a
spill could contaminate a major underground water supply.
Morgan Johnson, general manager of Silverdale Water District,
said he would like to use the model to predict what will happen
when highly treated effluent from the Central Kitsap Wastewater
Treatment Plant is used to irrigate ball fields and other areas in
Central Kitsap. Efforts between the water districts and Kitsap
County might lead to greater infiltration of water and greater
groundwater supplies to be pumped from existing wells throughout
Central Kitsap.
The USGS provided half the costs for the study. The other half
was shared among Kitsap PUD; Silverdale Water District; West Sound
Utility District; North Perry Water District; Manchester Water
District; the cities of Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Gig
Harbor; Washington Water, a private utility; and the Suquamish and
Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.
UPDATE: April 24, 2015
Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of
Washington, says in his
blog that it is too early to be predicting severe drought in
Western Washington this summer because of possible late-spring
rains:
“I believe the media and some local politicians have gotten a
bit too worried about our ‘drought.’ We have NOT had a
precipitation drought at all….we are in a snow drought due to warm
temperatures. The situation is unique and I suspect we will weather
this summer far better than expected.”
—–
The word seems to be getting around about the record-low
snowpack in the mountains, which could create a shortage of
drinking water and even lead to problems for salmon swimming
upstream. Read about Gov. Jay Inslee’s expanded drought emergency, issued
today, as well as the last
update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Kitsap Peninsula and the islands of Puget Sound are in their own
worlds, fairly insulated from what is happening in the higher
elevations. In these lower elevations, the key to water supplies is
rainfall, not snow, and the outlook for the year is normal so
far.
As you can see from the charts on this page (click to enlarge),
this year’s rainfall has been tracking closely the long-term
average. If the rains are light and steady, much of the water will
soak into the ground and recharge the aquifers where most area
residents get their water. The aquifer levels tend to rise and fall
over multiple years, depending on the rainfall.
Casad Dam on the Union River, which supplies a majority of
Bremerton’s water, filled in January, well ahead of schedule, said
Kathleen Cahall, water resources manager for the city. The dam is
scheduled for a normal drawdown, and Kathleen said she does not
expect any water shortage.
“We filled the reservoir fairly early this year,” she said. “We
are looking pretty good for the summer.”
October, the first month of the water year, was unusually wet,
Kathleen said. December precipitation also was high. The other
months were fairly normal for precipitation.
Precipitation in the Puget Sound region is expected to be below
average for June, July and August, according to models by the
NOAA’s Climate Prediction
Center. Interestingly, large portions of the Central and
Southwest U.S., Alaska and Florida can expect above-average
precipitation. See U.S. map.
Streams on the Kitsap Peninsula are fed by surface water flows
and shallow aquifers. At the moment, most of the streamflows are
near their historical average. That’s not the case for the larger
rivers in the Northwest, which rush out of the mountains. Most are
well below their normal flows, as shown by the map with the
dots.
Low streamflows usually mean higher temperatures and stress for
salmon. Low flows also can affect fish passage in some stretches of
the rivers while also reducing spawning areas.
While things look fairly good on the Kitsap Peninsula now,
things can change quickly. We have different vulnerabilities than
elsewhere. Climate-change models predict that rains will grow more
intense in the future without changing annual precipitation very
much. That means more of the water will run off the land and less
will soak in, potentially reducing aquifer levels over time.
Managing those underground water supplies will become more and more
critical.
“Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting
over.”
This quote kept running through my mind as I completed the
eighth part of our series “Taking the Pulse of Puget Sound.” The
latest installment, published in Sunday’s Kitsap Sun, is about water
resources.
Craig Greshman of Gresham
Well Drilling drills a new well on Virginia Point in
Poulsbo.
Kitsap Sun photo by Larry Steagall
It seems from my interviews that we should have enough water in
the Puget Sound region to serve the needs of people while
maintaining streamflows for fish and other aquatic organisms. It’s
all about managing the resource, as I describe in the story.
What isn’t so clear to me is what we need to do about water
rights, and this is where the real hangup can come in. People,
governments and developers are allowed to reserve vast amounts of
water for various uses, then they simply need to “use it or lose
it.” That does not encourage conservation.
Water rights are considered a property right. Even if the
Legislature had a plan for clearing up all the conflicts, it would
not be easy. So far, the courts have been fairly strong in
upholding individual water rights, even when the needs of society
call for a new direction.
We’ve all encountered belligerent people who speak out loudly
about their property rights. They’ll say, “This is my property, and
I’ll be damned if I will have the government telling me what I can
and cannot do with my property.”
Well, I’m sorry. But that battle is over. Zoning laws have been
upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Reasonable restrictions can be
imposed on the use of property to protect the rights of the
neighbors and the entire community.
But water rights are fairly entrenched and inflexible. It may be
in the best interest of a community if a farmer could find ways to
grow his crops with less water and share the surplus with a growing
population. But is it fair to expect the farmer to give away his
water rights for free, or should he be paid a sizable amount of
money to set free the water he is holding hostage? Maybe he will
need that water in the future, given the uncertainties of climate
change.
And then there is the groundwater-permit exemptions for single
family homes, allowing withdrawal of up to 5,000 gallons per day of
water from a well — even though most families use only a few
hundred gallons a day. In addition, the courts have ruled that
farmers may use an unlimited amount of groundwater for watering
livestock. All these water rights are recorded on the books,
competing with other water rights — including instream flows to
protect water in the streams for fish and other aquatic
creatures.
Such water rights can be issued until there is no water left to
appropriate or until there is a real water shortage and people
generally agree that an adjudication is necessary. That’s when the
courts begin to sort out who is using what water and for how long,
trying to resolve the tangled claims and conflicts. While it may
seem like the most reasonable solution, the adjudication process
involves historical evidence and legal rulings that never seem to
end. Such an adjudication has been underway in the Yakima basin for
40 years, according to the Department
of Ecology website.
While water supplies in the Puget Sound region seem to be
generally adequate for years to come, it is unlikely that people
and governments will find a way to share this precious resource,
setting the stage for ongoing legal battles.
“Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting
over.”
While this quote is commonly attributed to Mark Twain, there is
no evidence he ever said it. See the blog entry by Michael Doyle of
McClatchy Newspapers. Trying to prove that
Twain never said it, however, is virtually impossible. It reminds
me of the effort it may take to prove that one of our ancestors put
his water rights to “beneficial use,” thus guaranteeing a quantity
of water for all time.
Click on image to download
the complete graphic (PDF 2.8 mb).
Last week, I wrote about a meeting between water officials on
the Kitsap Peninsula and hydrologists from the U.S. Geological
Survey. The USGS folks were floating the idea of studying the
geology and available water supplies across the entire Kitsap
Peninsula. (See story in
Thursday’s Kitsap Sun.)
Surface waters of
Kitsap.
I’ve covered water resources for years, and one of the big
questions in the context of growth and development has always been:
“Will the area have enough water to support growth.”
It’s a question I’ve asked local water managers since I arrived
here in 1977. Their answer is generally something like this: “We
should have enough water far into the future if we manage it
carefully.” My latest story, published in the
Kitsap Sun Oct. 3, described a relatively low-water year ending
in October.
Most of Kitsap County’s water comes from wells. Consequently,
managing water carefully means conserving what we’ve got, allowing
our rains to soak into the ground and, in some contexts, being able
to move water from areas of lesser supply to areas of greater
supply. The map of surface waters at right can be found on the
Kitsap County
Web site.
Water is one of the big environmental issues of our time, and it
will grow more important as long as the population continues to
grow. Most people in the water business would like to know more
about underground water supplies, so a study of the peninsula’s
water resources would be valuable. Experts also realize that
studies of this kind are only as good as the data that go in. That
involves using measurements from hundreds of wells and well logs
(soil layers) across the peninsula. You may want to check out
similar
studies conducted by USGS.
This topic also appears to be interesting to Kitsap Sun readers,
because the story I wrote last week was rated the most popular on
the Web site for two days running.
As with many environmental stories, the first comments to be
posted seemed skeptical of the whole idea that caused me to write
the story:
Crownvic (the first comment): “This is another
one of these greeny try-to-scare-the-hell-out-of-you articles.
First of all, almost all water wells pump from an aquifer 100 feet
plus deep and have absolutely no effect on surface waters due to
the impervious layers top and bottom…” Continue reading →
