February 17, 2000 Meeting Minutes
University of
Idaho, McClure Hall Rm. 411
Dave Dittmer (representing WSU), Steve Busch (Moscow), Larry Kirkland (Chair-UI), Juliet McKenna (PBAC), Derek Pohle (Whitman County), Gary Presol (Moscow), Tom Scallorn (Moscow), Loreca Stauber (Latah County), Tom Townsend (Latah County), Mark Workman (Pullman)
Mike Nelson (speaker-WSU), Ron Cooper (Pullman), Kathleen Warnick (citizen, Moscow), Gerard Billington (Latah County) Bill French (citizen, Moscow), Tom Lamar (Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute), Dan Henry (UI student)
Chair Larry Kirkland called the meeting to order at 2:35 PM.
Minutes were approved (M. Workman motioned, D. Pohle seconded) with the following changes:
Page 2, Section 4, 2nd bullet: delete “and it is likely we are mining our groundwater” and change to, “After 10 years of holding pumping in the basin within the 1% annual increase limit, water levels in the Grande Ronde have not leveled out as expected. A new paradigm for stabilizing the falling Grand Ronde water levels is needed. “
Page 3, Section 4, last bullet: changed to read, “City officials acknowledged that it will be politically difficult for the cities to increase water rates and/or take other proactive steps to raise the funds necessary for projects to stabilize the water levels in the Grande Ronde aquifer system without answers to the above and similar difficult questions.”
Mike was requested to make a presentation because one of the goals of the PBAC Groundwater Management Plan is to perform an economic evaluation of supplemental water supply options. Knowing the real cost of water over time is critical to providing a sustained water supply to the Palouse Basin area. The following points summarize his presentation:
· At some point, the cost of pumping groundwater from the existing aquifer may become large enough that an alternative (backstop) becomes cost effective. Alternatives and their costs have not been well defined (recently) for the Palouse Basin. They include, for example, use of treated surface water, induced recharge, and wastewater reuse.
· Economics would advise using the various water supplies to maximize net benefits (where net benefits is equal to total benefits – total costs). The goal of Mike’s research is to estimate the timing for bring the backstop supplies into production so that net benefits are maximized. He predicts that his modeling (to be completed this summer) will show that even with very conservative assumptions, our current groundwater consumption rates have a higher cost than most people realize, and we are not maximizing net benefits. That is to say, we are presently OVERUSING the groundwater resource in terms of net benefits.
· The goal then, is to maximize the net benefits over time from using various source of water available to the basin. There are many ways to do this including conservation, wastewater reuse, a change in pricing structure (block rates, seasonal rates, higher overall costs), and assessing a fee per unit of water pumped.
· M. Nelson will present the results of his modeling efforts at a future PBAC meeting.
Jim Osiensky explained to the Committee that he would like to conduct a “basin-wide” pump test to evaluate the hydraulic connection between Pullman and Palouse in the Grande Ronde aquifer. The new well in Palouse has been drilled but will not be equipped with a pump until later this year, and therefore can be equipped with a data logger to record static water levels. If wells in Pullman are pumped and wells in Moscow are turned off, a drop in water level in the Palouse well can be attributed to pumping in Pullman, indicating the aquifer is continuous hydraulically. Observation of the timing and degree of response in other wells around the basin will provide important data for evaluating aquifer characteristics. All entities present were willing to cooperate as much as possible. Jim and his graduate student, Landon Beck, will coordinate the test. [NOTE: test is planned for 8:00 AM on Friday, March 17.]
See attached summary provided by Larry Kirkland. The suggestion is that PBAC adopt a position on the status of water levels in the Grande Ronde aquifer (i.e. they are declining), as opposed to trying to adopt a position on growth in the basin. A discussion on this will occur at the March 23 meeting.
Larry Kirkland suggested the funding structure of the PBAC be reviewed (see attachment). The cost of pumping groundwater may someday be greater than the cost of an alternative or backstop, such as induced recharge, surface water treatment, or effluent reuse. Larry suggested the PBAC consider an additional assessment (on top of the annual dues) scaled according to the quantity of water from each source pumped by the entities. This structure would incorporate an incentive to conserve water and the fund could be used as a savings account for future “backstop” projects, as well as balancing the PBAC budget and provide a source of matching funds for grants. This topic will be discussed at the March meeting.
J. McKenna will mail out a black/white draft to all committee members and select reviewers [(NOTE: draft was mailed out March 3, 2000]. Comments are requested by March 23, 2000. A color copy of the draft is available on the PBAC web site to committee members and reviewers. The final report should be available by the first week of April.
WSU and Pullman are continuing a discussion of a possible wastewater reuse project. Pullman and Moscow tested all wells for MTBE and all were negative. Pullman Well 6 is out of service for 3-4 weeks. Pullman is opening bids this month on drilling Well 7, scheduled for this summer. Moscow has purchased land on the state line for a new well. The well won’t be drilled for several years.
Drilling of the Palouse well is complete and an aquifer test was complete (see Item 4, above). A 24-hour pump test at nearly 700 gpm resulted in only a few feet of drawdown. Based on specific capacity (pumping rate divided by drawdown), this is the most productive well in the basin.
Proposal for additional funding of basin research project ($100k per year for 3 years) has been submitted to Rep. Tom Trail, and Maynard Miller who is serving for Tom during February due to Tom’s illness. [Note: proposal was resent to Rep. Trail on March 3, 2000 at his request and because of time lost, funding does not seem likely for this year.]
J. McKenna noted that UI students are applying for PBAC internships, but it is difficult to recruit good students without funding to provide minimal support. PBAC members are encouraged to look for ways to use interns for the summer. J. McKenna, L. Kirkland and Tom Scallorn of Moscow are working with several students this semester.
The week of May 7-13 has been declared National Groundwater Awareness Week by the National Groundwater Association. J. McKenna suggested several events the entities could sponsor that could draw attention to the region’s valuable groundwater resource. J. McKenna will work with Sue Hinz to coordinate and publicize some events.
March 23, 2000 at 2:30 pm in
McClure Hall Room 411.
This room should be available through the semester and summer. The meeting was adjourned at 4:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Juliet M. McKenna
Executive Secretary/Technical Advisor
These minutes are submitted in final form and have been approved by the
Committee.