1935 - 2007:  Dropping water levels.

Water levels in the Grande Ronde Aquifer are declining 1.5 feet per year -- jeopardizing the long-term future of communities that rely on this sole source aquifer.  The Palouse groundwater basin is the sole source of water for over 50,000 residents of Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho and outlying areas in both Whitman County (Washington) and Latah County (Idaho).  Washington State is permitting this Aquifer to be mined in violation of state law.  (source:  "Local Water Use", Pumping and Water Level Summary - May 2007, page 18, from the website of Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee (PBAC)

Irrigating WSU’s new 18-hole golf course with water from the Grande Ronde Aquifer. 

photo:  Scotty Cornelius

WSU water rights challenge June 2008 Update For years local citizens have struggled to protect and sustain the water that is the lifeblood of their community. Groups challenging WSU and Washington State over the future of water are Palouse Water Conservation Network, Palouse Group of Sierra Club, and Whitman County resident Scotty Cornelius. These citizens are represented by public-interest water lawyer Rachael Paschal Osborn, with the assistance of the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP). In January 2008, these groups and citizens took their case to court, challenging the Department of Ecology’s decision to allow WSU to consolidate its water rights in a way that will allow the University to triple its pumping. The real issue? Water levels are dropping in the Grande Ronde Aquifer at a steady rate of 1.5 feet per year, over 100 feet in the last 70 years. The Grande Ronde Aquifer is the sole source of water for 50,000 people in the Pullman-Moscow area. The depletion of this water source is a crisis in the making for the region, something that was recognized by the Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB, Washington’s water court) in its final order, when it said: “All parties concede the Grande Ronde aquifer (GRA) is experiencing a long-term and troubling trend of declining water levels that, if not adequately addressed, will eventually threaten all water users in the basin.” Despite acknowledging, this problem, the PCHB ruled against the appellants, finding that the law does not provide a remedy for the vanishing aquifer problem. (The decision can be found online, click here). Even so, the Board agreed with WSU Professor of Hydrogeology Kent Keller, who testified on behalf of Appellants. Among the findings: o The extent and availability of groundwater resources in the Grand Ronde Aquifer (GRA) are poorly known . . . it is therefore impossible to predict with any degree of certainty how long the water in the GRA will last. o This is also due in part to the fact that when drawdowns get large enough, important aquifer properties change, causing the magnitude and direction of water movement to change. o Despite this uncertainty . . . it is known that the amount of groundwater stored is declining relative to amount of groundwater pumped o Although the precise recharge rate is not known . . . it is very low. o The GRA is a declining aquifer because the pumpage from the GRA exceeds recharge o Increases in aggregate pumpage from the GRA . . . will necessarily cause water-level declines within the aquifer. Appellants filed a motion for reconsideration, asking the PCHB to require the Department of Ecology to conduct a “reasonable pump lift” analysis to determine how low aquifer levels can fall before regulatory action is needed. The PCHB denied the motion. An appeal to Whitman County Superior Court is anticipated. For CELP’s Facts about Water Use on WSU’s Palouse Ridge Golf Course, click here. http://www.pwcn.org/http://idaho.sierraclub.org/http://www.celp.org/water/celp/Home.htmlhttp://www.celp.org/water/celp/Home.htmlhttp://www.eho.wa.gov/Decisions.aspx#srchhttp://www.columbia-institute.org/pdf/WSUfactsgolfcourse08-2007.pdfshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5

  Center for

  Environmental Law & Policy

Website Contents ~ WSU & Aquifer Mining ~ Overview ~ Aquifer in trouble ~ WSU: sustainability? ~ Aquifer Media ~ Aquifer Legal Documents ~ Slide Show: water mining Overview.htmlAquifer.htmlwalkthetalk.htmlMedia/Archive.htmldocuments.htmlPhotos.htmlshapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2shapeimage_5_link_3shapeimage_5_link_4shapeimage_5_link_5shapeimage_5_link_6

What you can do

(especially if you are an alumnus of WSU):


Residents (especially those who will be injured by dropping aquifer levels), faculty, and students are encouraged to attend.  You will not be able to testify.  To take action, please contact WSU President Elson Floyd at 509.335-6666, PresidentsOffice@wsu.edu


Points to make with President Floyd:


    * WSU’s reputation is suffering.  Stop using precious drinking water to irrigate a golf course.


    * it is an outrage when local citizens have to take a state-funded university and the State to court to protect drinking water supplies


   * ask President Floyd for leadership in ending WSU’s unsustainable use of water.  In the face of the global warming and water shortages, we need leadership from our public institutions and officials. 


Support the work of local citizen groups

advocating for the future of drinking water supplies

in the Pullman-Moscow area,

and support the work of CELP.  Click here to donate.




WSU and Water Sustainability


WSU receives money to do water work around the state -- including as a partner with the Dan Evans School and Bill Ruckelshaus Center at UW.  WSU water tudies have included the Potato Study, currently used by Washington State to justify the public subsidies to expand the Columbia Basin Project into the Odessa subarea.


As WSU irrigates its new golf course with 20,000-year-old water by unsustainably pumping the Grande Ronde Aquifer, the land grant university intends to make water a focus of its sustainability efforts.  The following is from WSU’s Academic Affairs Program Prioritization Provost's Report:


   1. Make "water" a major focus of Environment and Sustainability efforts. (Water will continue to be a major issue for the economic development and well-being of Washington.)

   2. Consolidate and focus existing and new water programs to address critical issues facing Washington.

   3. Utilize the current review of the Water Research Center in the Office of Research as a preliminary step in developing a university-wide plan for water research, teaching, and outreach.


(for more on WSU and Water Sustainability, click here)


WSU irrigating 20,000-year-old water onto its new golf course.  The water source is the Grande Ronde Aquifer - an aquifer in crisis, dropping 1.5 feet per year.  This is the source of drinking water for 50,000 people.  (Scotty Cornelius photo)