By Wade Nkrumah | Communications Manager
In addition to the critical reforms WaterWatch advocates to ensure Oregon manages groundwater sustainably, funding and agency capacity are also essential. As a result of past underinvestment in groundwater in many areas of the state, the Water Resources Department lacks adequate data to make sustainable groundwater decisions.
Conducting multiple groundwater studies to better inform water management is a priority recommended action in Oregon’s Integrated Water Resources Strategy. The importance and need for these groundwater studies was highlighted in The Oregonian’s influential series on the mismanagement of groundwater, “Draining Oregon”. The state has 19 river basins, but to date only three United States Geological Service (USGS) groundwater basin studies have been completed (Deschutes, Upper Klamath, and Willamette). Another is nearly complete in the Harney Basin (part of the Malheur Lakes Basin), and an Oregon-Washington effort in the Walla Walla Basin is underway. The Water Resources Department has 12 basins they have identified as priorities for additional basin studies.
Funding for groundwater studies has been anything but steady. In the mid-1990’s the legislature provided the Water Resources Department up to $1.2 million per biennium towards joint USGS/OWRD groundwater investigations. These funds fueled completed studies in the Deschutes, Klamath, and Willamette. However, this funding diminished significantly through the 2000’s. In the 2009-2011 and 2011-2013 biennium, the Water Resources Department received zero dollars for groundwater investigations. From 2013-2017, the agency received $375,000 per biennium. It was a start, but clearly inadequate for the task at hand.
In 2019, the tide began to turn. Thanks to the advocacy of WaterWatch and others, the legislature delivered $1.6 million to the program, which brought with it six staff. In 2021-2023, the legislature delivered an additional $4.38 million and 16 new positions. This funding should allow the state to move forward, from building basin water budgets, to collecting data needed for additional groundwater studies, to beginning USGS/OWRD groundwater investigations in new basins.
After decades of inadequate funding, this transformative package should produce invaluable information critical for sustainable management of our state’s groundwater resources. WaterWatch will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that this package benefits ecosystems and people who rely on groundwater!
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By Neil Brandt | Development Director
By Jim McCarthy | Southern Oregon Program Director
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