FEATURE
THE WELL’S RUN DRY
WWW.BENDSOURCE.COM / JULY 07, 2022 / BEND’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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With the ongoing drought, growing population and piping of canals, Central Oregonians are increasingly seeing their wells go dry. Many may be out of luck. By Hanna Merzbach
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t was early June when Mari V. went to do a load of laundry one morning and found the machine had no water. Then, she turned on the faucet — again, no water. Mari, who owns and lives at a horse farm near Tumalo, typically relies on a 545-feet-deep well to give her horses water and meet household needs. That is, until last month. When a pump company came to investigate, “There was only about 5 inches of mucky water at the bottom,” recalled Mari, who asked to omit her last name and business name in case she someday wants to sell the property. Mari was left to join the growing number of rural Central Oregonians scrambling to deepen their wells or find a new water source altogether, with many drilling companies months out from relief and drilling
costing tens of thousands of dollars. This comes as— despite the wet spring—the region enters its second summer of extreme drought, and farmers and rural residents are experiencing water shortages in ways people living within city limits don’t see. The region has experienced some level of drought conditions for the last 20 years, and although precipitation levels have been high compared to previous years, that’s barely making a dent. According to Chrissy Lucas, a groundwater protection specialist at Oregon State University, “You can’t make up for all of that drought and the lack of rain in one or two years.” Well owners in Central Oregon aren’t alone: Across the world, millions of wells are expected to run dry, as groundwater is depleted from overpumping and drier climates.
“So especially in areas like Central Oregon, we’re pumping it out faster than it’s being able to naturally recharge itself with the rainfall,” —CHRISSY LUCAS
GROUNDWATER IN DECLINE Groundwater is a critical resource in Central Oregon. While most farmers in the region rely on surface water for irrigation, residents and businesses outside municipal areas largely depend on private wells to meet their water needs. This groundwater is part of an aquifer, which flows like an underground river deep below Earth’s surface. Every year, the snowfall from the Cascade Mountains replenishes the aquifer, as spring snowmelt seeps into the porous volcanic rock. But, according to the latest study from the U.S. Geological Survey, between 1997 and 2008, groundwater levels in the central part of the Upper Deschutes Basin—from Sisters to Powell Butte— declined as much as 14 feet. Climate conditions and the region’s ongoing drought account for much of this decline: A smaller snowpack means less water flows into the aquifer. Climate, however, can’t explain all the water declines throughout the basin. Experts point to the piping of irrigation canals as another reason for groundwater decline. For a long time, up to 50% of water from canals seeped into the ground before it reached farms,
