When it comes to water, we need all the data we can get

In many cases, more truly is better. In California, especially as the current punishing drought continues for a fifth year, more definitely would be better in just about every regard when it comes to water.

This is true when it comes to water research. And as demonstrated by two separate studies reported on recently by The Desert Sun’s Ian James, more data on groundwater in California would be a good thing indeed.

The Desert Sun’s Ian James reported recently on the work done by teams at Stanford University. In one study, researchers concluded there are vast stocks of water more than 1,000 feet below the Earth’s surface, much deeper than previously considered. Another Stanford team reported that the very agencies that have been charged with ensuring the ongoing condition of groundwater supplies across the state aren’t able to do so.

The common denominator between the two projects: Not enough information is being gathered and these knowledge gaps could leave regulators blind to potential threats that our aquifers are facing.

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“We really don’t know enough about our groundwater systems,”  Tara Moran, a researcher who leads the sustainable groundwater program as part of Stanford University’s Water in the West program, told The Desert Sun’s James.

Moran was part of the Stanford team that surveyed California water managers and discovered that many agencies aren’t getting the information they’ll likely need to meet their responsibilities under California landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014.

The legislation allows local agencies to create groundwater sustainability plans to meet their economic and environmental needs, creating “… a framework for sustainable, local groundwater management for the first time in California history,” according to the state’s groundwater.ca.gov website.

Moran says her team’s study determined that “a lot of data are either missing or highly uncertain,” and that the information collected often isn’t shared between agencies to enable decision making. As an example, she pointed to the lack of actual meters on many wells drawing groundwater, leaving officials across the state with no way of knowing how much water is actually being taken.

In the other Stanford study, data from thousands of oil and gas wells was used to form a picture of vast water stores much deeper than the maximum 1,000-foot depth previously considered. These researchers concluded that there is likely some 2,700 cubic kilometers of fresh water deep beneath eight counties in the Central Valley. This is nearly triple the previous estimate of what might be found in that region.

This by no means can be seen as a miracle solution to that area’s water crisis; the sources are far below what typical wells can retrieve. In addition, the water itself has much more in the way of dissolved solids than that used for drinking water. These factors would make harvesting it for use much more costly, if not cost-prohibitive, at least for now.

A troubling finding: Researchers say no monitoring of these deep water stores is being done, so there is no way to know for sure if they are being harmed by oil and gas well activity.

Robert Jackson, a Stanford professor of environmental science who has carried out other research on fracking and water quality in addition to his role with this research, suggested that the state should require additional permitting and data gathering to protect these and other, more usable, sources that might be threatened even now by drilling activity.

The takeaway from these studies seems fairly clear, if simple: We need more information on groundwater and it would be in everyone’s interest to get it.

The Stanford researchers suggest that local agencies help fill the knowledge gap by boosting numbers of groundwater monitoring wells, placing meters on wells to track actual groundwater draws and use their authority under the groundwater law to monitor private wells.

State and federal officials, meanwhile, should require local agencies to use consistent monitoring standards and a common platform to better share data.

These recommendations make sense and would help protect supplies that might be vital to us down the road. Protecting all of the Golden State’s water sources for the future is part of the change in water culture we must continue to pursue today.