{"id":24705,"date":"2015-08-06T10:14:04","date_gmt":"2015-08-06T15:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=24705"},"modified":"2015-08-06T10:53:00","modified_gmt":"2015-08-06T15:53:00","slug":"one-rainy-spring-not-enough-to-stop-groundwater-declines-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2015\/08\/06\/one-rainy-spring-not-enough-to-stop-groundwater-declines-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"One Rainy Spring Not Enough To Stop Aquifer Declines in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_24718\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24718\" alt=\"OWRB water resources geologists Derrick Wagner and Jessica Correll analyze readings from their well at the Spencer Mesonet station. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate3-e1438873948210.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate3-e1438873948210.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate3-e1438873948210-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate3-e1438873948210-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate3-e1438873948210-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">OWRB water resources geologists Derrick Wagner and Jessica Correll analyze readings from their well at the Spencer Mesonet station.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Almost half of the water <a title=\"OWRBlink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.owrb.ok.gov\/util\/waterfact.php\" target=\"_blank\">used by Oklahomans comes from aquifers<\/a>, and four years of drought <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2014\/09\/11\/drought-stricken-southwest-oklahoma-towns-look-for-more-water-underground\/\" target=\"_blank\">increased that reliance<\/a>. This year\u2019s record-setting rainfall filled up the state\u2019s lakes, but recharging aquifers doesn&#8217;t happen so quickly.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/218058392&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more-->The Oklahoma Water Resources Board uses underground sensors to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.owrb.ok.gov\/studies\/groundwater\/gw_monitor_sites.php\">monitor groundwater levels <\/a>at several sites across the state.<\/p><p>But the sensors&#8217; accuracy needs to be checked manually, which means piling into an SUV with scientists and heading to the country.<\/p><p>On a recent trip to the Spencer Mesonet Station, water resources geologist Jessica Correll attached a metal probe to a long tape measure and fed it down into the Garber-Wellington Aquifer.<\/p><p>The probe descended about 50 feet before striking water.<\/p>\n<h3>Aquifers down<\/h3><p>Despite the record rainfall since March, the readings show water levels here are steadily <i>dropping<\/i>. Correll isn\u2019t surprised. Water from big rain events can quickly run off before soaking in far enough to reach aquifers.<\/p><p>\u201cThis particular water might not ever get down there,\u201d Correll says. \u201cIf you think about the depth, 50 feet, and everything that\u2019s there, and all of the root systems and everything. You need a nice, slow, soaking rain to get it saturated all through there.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_24717\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24717\" alt=\"OWRB water resources geologist Jessica Correll feeds water tape into a well on the Garber-Wellington Aquifer that underlies central Oklahoma. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate1-e1438873805984.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate1-e1438873805984.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate1-e1438873805984-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate1-e1438873805984-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2015\/08\/PHOTO-8-6-AquiferUpdate1-e1438873805984-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Logan Layden \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">OWRB water resources geologist Jessica Correll feeds water tape into a well on the Garber-Wellington Aquifer that underlies central Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Don&#8217;t blame the weather<\/h3><p>Correll isn\u2019t alarmed. The fluctuations in water level range from a inches to a few feet. <a title=\"OWRBlink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owrb.ok.gov\/maps\/pdf_map\/GW%20Aquifers.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahoma\u2019s aquifers<\/a> have been around for thousands of years, though countless drought and flood cycles. All the recent rain didn\u2019t save them, but the drought wasn\u2019t exactly killing them either \u2014 at least not directly.<\/p><p>\u201cThe thing is if nobody was using them, they might be more protected from drought, but since people are there and wanting more wells and needing more water, they\u2019re using more when it is drought,\u201d Correll says.<\/p><p>Overuse by people causes wells to start running dry during drought, like in heavily irrigated areas of western Oklahoma, or when large groups of people quickly move to the same spot.<\/p><p>Oklahoma Water Resources Board Executive Director J.D. Strong says the problem of groundwater depletion goes beyond a single aquifer, a four-year drought, or an extra rainy spring. It\u2019s generational.<\/p><p>\u201cI think if we\u2019re concerned about depletion and lowering water tables, we\u2019re concerned about all of the [aquifers],\u201d Strong says. \u201cBecause I think just about every aquifer in the state, for the most part, we\u2019re measuring declines in.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Managing decline<\/h3><p>Oklahoma law allows for the slow depletion of aquifers so towns and landowners and have water, farmers can irrigate their fields, and industry can produce. The big question the OWRB faces now is how to manage that depletion, like in the Ogallala Aquifer, which the western Oklahoma agriculture industry has always relied on.<\/p><p>\u201cMost of those producers that rely on that aquifer for their livelihood, and have for generations, realize that if they want their future generations to be able to stay there, live and prosper in the panhandle, they\u2019re going to have to manage that resource and take care of it and make sure it\u2019s there for them 50 to 100 years from now,\u201d Strong says.<\/p><p><a title=\"OWRBlink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owrb.ok.gov\/studies\/groundwater\/groundwater.php\" target=\"_blank\">The OWRB is currently doing studies<\/a> on the state\u2019s major groundwater basins, determining how much can be pumped from them each year without depleting them too quickly. Each study can take years. Like rainwater making its way to an aquifer, it\u2019s a slow process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Almost half of the water used by Oklahomans comes from aquifers, and four years of drought increased that reliance. This year\u2019s record-setting rainfall filled up the state\u2019s lakes, but recharging aquifers doesn&#8217;t happen so quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[423,645,627,444,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24705"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24722,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24705\/revisions\/24722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}