‘Water windfall’ beneath California’s Central Valley
‘Water windfall’ beneath California’s Central Valley
A study led by Stanford scientists Robert Jackson and Mary Kang found that California’s Central Valley has three times more groundwater than previously estimated. Previous estimates of California’s groundwater supply were based on decades-old data and only extended to a maximum depth of 1,000 feet. Due to technological restraints, water found deeper than 1,000 feet was considered too expensive to access and use.
The Stanford study evaluated data from 938 oil and gas pools and more than 35,000 oil and gas wells to analyze groundwater sources in eight California counties. Jackson and Kang found that when they considered deeper groundwater sources, the Central Valley has 2,700 cubic kilometers of usable groundwater. However, a lot of this water is 1,000 to 3,000 feet underground, which leads to some complications. Deeper water is more expensive to extract. The Central Valley is already experiencing ground subsidence, and pumping water from that far underground could, in theory, intensify the problem. Because much of this deeper water is higher in salt concentration than shallower ground water, it would likely need to be treated before it is used for drinking or agriculture. Additionally, oil and gas drilling is occurring directly into approximately 30 percent of the sites where deep groundwater sources are located. Fracking, or using other chemical treatments, doesn’t mean the groundwater is unusable, but the study implicitly calls for increased monitoring and oversight of deep aquifers. Kang stated that since California might need to use deep groundwater in the future, it is “worth protecting these supplies.” Unstated in the study or comments by the authors is what impacts to mineral development and private property rights would be impacted by additional government regulations.
Source article HERE.