The Wanapum and Grande Ronde aquifers are huge! Click on the pictures to see the full size maps. I have pinpointed Moscow and their relativity to the aquifers that they are trying to control. Both aquifers encompass southeastern Washington, northeastern Oregon and parts of Idaho. And guess what? They are both dropping at approximately the same level everywhere. But to hear Moscow and the no-growth liberals tell it, Pullman, W.S.U., Whitman county, Wal-Mart and the Hawkins Companies are solely to blame for the aquifers dropping.
No one knows why the aquifers are dropping, but there seems to be some consensus among the experts that the upper aquifer (Wanapum) is the rechargable aquifer and it drains into the deeper and lower Grande Ronde aquifer. Some also theorize that the Grand Ronde may be draining into yet another deeper, unknown aquifer. But there is no way that Pullman, W.S.U., Whitman county, Wal-Mart and the Hawkins Companies can possibly drain both aquifers. It's ludicrous to even suggest the possibility.
2 comments:
April,
Thanks for this information and maps. Two years ago I attended a presentation at the fairgrounds in Colfax put on by some water conservation board (forgot the name). The maps they showed of the Grande Ronde were significantly smaller in area than the one you shown. I was surprised that my land was not part of the aquifer on their map since my land is the start of a canyon leading directly into the Snake River.
I guess their maps are out of date. I wonder if Moscow will go after Spokane, Yakima and the Tri-Cities since Moscow has proclaimed both aquifers as their dominion? Will Queen Nancy tax cities along the Columbia River since the water came from them?
The maps also poke a substantial hole in Moscow's water rights appeal which were partly filed on the grounds that the water rights transfers are not from the same body of water.
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