The race to save Arizona's groundwater

0:02WBUR Podcasts, Boston. So we had our 600-foot well go dry, and it was a hard deal to swallow there. They'll just pump this place, though it dries up and blows away. And what are we going to do? It takes tens of thousands of years for groundwater to accumulate in aquifers deep underground, and a relative instance to use it up.

0:35It's Wednesday, June 24th, and this is Here and Now Anytime from NPR and WBR. I'm Chris Bentley.

0:45There is a water crisis in the American West. In some ways, it's been decades in the making, as human-caused climate change has shifted weather patterns and dried up an already arid region. And it's getting close to a breaking point. with the country's two biggest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, at historically low levels. But there's another less visible water crisis unfolding literally beneath our feet. And that is what Peter O'Dowd set out from his home in Arizona to explore.

1:20On this June morning near Phoenix, the birds don't mind the rising heat. The killdeer and the herons have come to this spot near the main channel of the otherwise bone-dry Salt River. Because right here, there is water. Lots of it. Okay, so this is a recharge basin. This pipe that you can hear, the water is gushing out of it into a giant field. And that water is just going to soak into the ground, infiltrate through the rock and the gravel and the sand, and eventually make its way down to the aquifer as groundwater. Listen, birds. Yeah. Those wild horses. Yeah, wild horses, yeah. So wildlife loves it.

2:07Sharon Morris manages groundwater for the Salt River Project. The utility serves the Phoenix area and operates a series of dams and reservoirs upstream. Some of that dammed-up Salt River water is channeled here. It spreads out over these basins to soak 200 feet underground. And then when you're ready, you can pump the water back up and send it to the cities and the people who need it, the millions of people who need it all around this gigantic city. Yeah, so imagine your savings account, you know, at your bank. You put money in there, so this is the surface water is like the money, and you save it for a rainy day.

2:42In our case, we're saving it for a not-so-rainy day. That day is here. The southwest has been withering in a drought for more than 20 years. The Colorado River, which serves cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix and Vegas, is overused and dangerously low, which means groundwater is more important by the day. Morris says this recharge basin has stored a million acre feet of water since it began operating in 1994, almost the equivalent of a large reservoir upstream. So it's keeping the groundwater levels up? Yes. In this particular area? Yes. In other areas where this doesn't happen, the water table keeps falling.

3:19That is not the case in other areas of the state. You're absolutely right. In fact, across the Colorado River Basin, groundwater levels have been dropping for decades. Jay Famiglietti is a professor at Arizona State University. So we have to be exceptionally careful because it took tens of thousands of years to accumulate. We're burning through it on a century timescale. and there is essentially no hope of high magnitude replenishment. Famiglietta uses satellites in space more like a scale in the sky to measure groundwater in the desert. Since water is so heavy, when the large amounts of groundwater leave the region, they actually perturb the satellites, the scale in the sky, because there's less of a gravitational tug on them.

4:06And so we're able to map out the rates of change. And it's changed a lot. Since the 1980s, Arizona has regulated groundwater pumping, especially around big cities. But Famiglietti says the vast majority of the state is still unprotected. Meanwhile, the Colorado River is on the brink of collapse, and cities that are eager to grow need new sources of water. Pressure is growing on the aquifers. It's a disaster that is presenting itself on a much longer timescale. ultimately it will be as big or bigger than the Colorado River problem. You can already see what extracting groundwater has done to more rural communities in Arizona.

4:50The desert town of Wendon is a dot on the map about two hours outside of Phoenix. When I was there, a crew from the water department was digging a trench to repair a damaged line. A block away, Davana Sater's gift shop is sinking into the ground. So the building is experiencing serious subsidence because of the overdraft of water that's taking place in our aquifer below our feet. With that music in the background, you can probably picture the vibe of Seder's shop. The shelves are full of crystals and jewelry and funky desert curio. Standing inside, everything just feels a bit akimbo. And so over time, you see the building create gaps and there are cracks.

5:32And then you feel it go downhill in several spots. is probably about 8 to 10 inches in one corner. Then you'll see 2 to 3 inch gaps between the wall and the floor. And then on the front side of the patio, you'll see the concrete. Because the building's weight is pushing and lowering into the ground, it's pushing the concrete, creating a force so there's a big crack and it's starting to raise up on the front when you walk in. Sater says recently the subsidence in this 125-year-old building has gotten worse. The issue is agriculture. This part of Arizona is checkered with farms, some owned by the Saudis, others by corporate hedge funds.

6:11For years, farmers have grown thirsty crops like alfalfa and pistachios in pumped groundwater without much regard for the aquifer. That left gaps underground where the water used to be. When it collapses, that space will no longer hold water ever, ever again. And that's absolutely terrifying to think you can have this natural body, I call nature's perfection, that we have altered it to where it's no longer useful. That is absolutely terrifying to me. What's the solution? No more overdraft. We need to become sustainable. Devana Sater and her husband are trying to protect the McMullen Valley Aquifer beneath Wendon.

6:52Gary Sater runs the local water department. Right now, the water table below you right here is 575 feet. We're standing next to the town well and the 120 ,000-gallon tank where the water is stored. Sater says in the past two years, the aquifer has dropped 18 feet. So it's steadily gone down over the years, and it's because of over-farming. It could get worse. Sater is fighting a bill at the statehouse that would give private landowners permission to pump groundwater and sell it to cities like Phoenix. The legislation would allow the aquifer to drop down to 1 ,200 feet. You know, we all think that growth is a good thing.

7:30And maybe growth is a good thing, but you only have so much natural resources, and those natural resources can only support so much growth. If you want more than that, then you're going to have to sacrifice somebody else. And that's what the water situation is. Do you feel like you're being sacrificed? Absolutely. No question about it. Absolutely. Supporters of the bill say growing cities need the water, especially now with big cuts coming to states that rely on the Colorado River. If nothing happens, then things continue to get worse. Stan Barnes is a lobbyist for Water Asset Management, a New York hedge fund that owns large tracts of farmland in the area.

8:11He urged lawmakers to pass the bill earlier this year. There is groundwater depletion in McMullen Valley. It's legal. It's a money crop to grow alfalfa. Barnes says the legislation would protect the aquifer because it limits how much water can be drawn down each year. Plus, he says the developer is moving away from crops like alfalfa and will invest in new water infrastructure for the people who live there. You can demagogue the New York hedge fund because it feels good, but that's not what this is about. This is about a private sector entity doing it now while we need it and doing something good for local communities.

8:51No one else is talking about that. That is no consolation to people like Robert McDermott.

8:59McDermott runs the Morena Palms RV Park outside of Wendon. With the season coming to a close, he's lowering an American flag tattered by the wind and sun. It only lasts about a year, maybe a year and a half if you're lucky. In recent years, something else on his property has given way to the harsh realities of life in the desert. So we had our 600-foot well go dry, and it was a hard deal to swallow there. I mean, RV parking, everybody needs water. So trucking water in here is just not practical. McDermott knew he'd be out of business without a well, so he dug a new one down to 800 feet. It cost him$120 ,000.

9:38Yeah, I didn't have 120 kicking around. Yeah, unfortunately. He'll be paying off the loan for years. And so, yes, McDermott is concerned about the future. He knows about the plan to draw down the aquifer to send the water somewhere else. And he can't afford to dig another well. So they'll just pump this place until it dries up and blows away. And what do we got to do?

10:12More from Peter in just a minute. If you like this reporting about the water crisis in the West, there's lots more to come. Make sure you don't miss it by following us in Apple Podcasts. Just click that plus button in the top right and you'll get all of our new episodes. And if you're already following us, leave us a review. Thanks, and we'll be right back.

10:43we're back with peter odoud and peter so much interesting stuff in your reporting there that i want to talk more about but first of all since you talked to him in that story jay famlietti of arizona state university won a major water prize for his work uh that science was really cool he He and his team are measuring something that we can't see, the amount of water underground with satellites that are 250 miles in the sky. It's really cool, and it reminds me of that part of the problem with groundwater is it's something you don't see. We kind of take it for granted. Isn't it fascinating? I was shocked by that.

11:19And just to peel back the onion a little bit, there was a moment while I was writing that story that I was like, you know, should I put this line in about the satellites? It's a little bit off course. And then, of course, you know, the light bulb went off. That's the most interesting part of the story is that these satellites are measuring, weighing the water in a sense from outer space. It's fascinating. And, you know, I focused on the southwestern United States, but the science that Femil Yeti is doing is showing problems all over the country. I mean, in California, the same thing is happening.

11:54The Ogallala Aquifer that's in the middle part of the country, they've seen similar problems. You know, that goes from like Colorado to Kansas and Nebraska. I mean, all over the central part of the country, that's got similar problems. The satellites have noticed problems in places like India and Bangladesh and the Middle East and China. And so this, I mean, it's no surprise to me really that he won that award. It's a UN-sponsored award. It's a big deal. It's so relevant right now. I mean, groundwater is vanishing so quickly and you don't see it, you know, and that's really the problem because you can see when a river is low or when a reservoir is low, but you don't see the groundwater in the aquifer going down unless, you know, as I pointed out in the story, your building starts to sink and you realize something's wrong.

12:42right exactly and the oglala aquifer that you mentioned in the middle of the country supplies a very large portion of this country's agricultural output so you know there's a lot a lot going on there people have been sounding the alarm about groundwater and how it's largely unregulated for a while now but we just heard in your story from people who are seeing the effects of the lowering water tables firsthand like that that woman's land who's sinking you just mentioned or the guy you had to drill a new deeper well. Does it seem like things are coming to a head now? I mean, are people starting to, I guess, wake up to the scale of the problem?

13:18Yeah, I think the pressure is really on at this point. And this is what I was trying to get at in the piece. I mean, yes, we've been watching groundwater levels fall, as Jay Femolietti pointed out, for decades. We've known this is happening. There's been regulation to stop groundwater pumping, or at least to limit it, of course, and to use it more strategically. But I think the fact is right now, this summer, as the seven states that use the Colorado River just cannot figure out how to come to an agreement to share this huge source of water in a time of serious drought. I mean, the pressure is on.

13:54And I think you can feel that across the southwestern United States. I mean, it's palpable, in a sense, because pretty soon the federal government is going to come in and say, states, you can't figure this out. This problem is so big, we have to solve it for you. And once that happens, I think people, especially in places like Arizona and Nevada and even Southern California, are really going to feel the impacts of this ongoing mega drought that we've all been experiencing. And so what's happening on the Colorado River is so connected to what is happening underneath our feet, because as the pressures grow on rivers and reservoirs, you've got to find the water somewhere.

14:36And so that's why I wanted to revisit the groundwater story right now, because it's so acute in this moment as we head towards this summer deadline that the federal government is looking at to tell the states to get their act together and figure out how to solve this problem or at least how to manage this problem. Because, frankly, solving it may not be possible. Right. And that federal government stepping in is for the surface water of the Colorado River that's shared by all these states and Mexico as well. Well, not the groundwater. I mean, it's connected, like you're saying, but there's nobody talking right now about the federal government stepping in and telling states they can only use so much groundwater, right?

15:13No plan like that. That's right. What we're talking about when I mentioned the Bureau of Reclamation or the federal government, what we're talking about is how to manage the reservoirs, specifically the reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two largest reservoirs in the country right here in the southwest that dam up the Colorado River and provide water to 40 million people. So yes, we're talking about the rivers and the reservoirs. Well, it's great reporting. We're going to hear a lot more of it in the months to come. Peter O'Dowd, thanks as always. You're welcome. Thank you.

15:54Well, the big picture might be daunting, but daily life goes on, even in a mega drought. and the desert still blooms. One of the best ways to connect with nature is gardening. And you can still do that even if it's looking like it's going to be a much drier summer where you live. Sarah Peralt is managing editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac. She's in New Hampshire and she told Peter the dry parts of the country this summer include more than just the southwest. We're going to be expecting drier than normal conditions across much of the northern tier of the United States. That's from Idaho, east to Michigan, and then south into northern Texas.

16:36And then we've got another patch of dryness that stretches from northeast down to the Atlantic coast into parts of southeast and all of Florida. All right. Big chunk of the country. Some parts of the country might be a little bit wetter than usual because we've got a big El Nino event in the forecast. But obviously, Sarah, water is essential and the weather conditions are going going to affect how you decide to water. What's the first thing you think about when gardening in a tough summer climate? First things first, we're going to start at the soil level. You're literally working from the ground up.

17:08So when you're watering, you want to make sure you're watering deeply. We all see those people out with their hoses just spraying. They're getting the leaves of their plants. They're not getting down to the roots. So what you need to do is water at the soil level. So you water deeply. Does that mean less frequently or more frequently? You're going to do less often because if you're doing it deeply, it's going to penetrate the roots and it's going to stay. If you're doing it just waving over the top, the plants themselves are getting less water. You're getting more on the leaves and the leaves don't need it.

17:40Right. In fact, I've heard that it can be damaging to get water on the leaves, especially when it's hot outside. Is that right? Yes, that's true because moisture on your leaves that's going to encourage fungal diseases, and then you have to get rid of your plants altogether. Okay. So then the question becomes, what should you plant if the weather's going to be especially hot this summer? Because obviously something like, say, okra or black-eyed peas are going to do better than spinach. How do you decide what to plant? Well, your best bet is to go to your local garden nursery. Ask them about their native plants.

18:17So native plants, they're adapted to local rainfall patterns and growing conditions. And once you get them established, they require less watering. Some drought tolerant ideas are lavender, coneflower, black eyed susans are very popular, and even Russian sage. That's beautiful. Do you have advice for folks who may not have an in-ground garden or maybe they're using raised beds or just containers because space is a limitation for them? Containers are very popular as well as hanging baskets. They usually dry out faster than a garden that's in the ground. So you're probably going to need to water them every day.

18:54What you want to do is just stick your finger into the top inch. And if it feels dry, you definitely need to be adding water. So it's already June 23rd at this point. Did we miss our window? If you haven't gotten anything in the ground at this point, is it already just too hot to grow anything? No, you can start with go to the nursery and get already started plants. You probably don't want to start with any seeds at this point. So I guess just final thoughts here. Just because it's hot and dry in the summer doesn't mean you have to give up, right? I mean, we've talked about some strategies to keep your garden fresh and healthy through the summer.

19:32You know, what's your philosophy about growing in tough conditions? Everybody should just do the best that they can. And if all else fails, you can always grow a house plant. There's no shame in that. All right. Right. Again, every climate is different. So reach out to your local extension offices and you can get some really specific suggestions for your particular growing environment. Sarah Peralt is managing editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac. Sarah, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. Thanks very much. It was great speaking with you, Peter.

20:05Everybody should just do the best they can. Words to live by from the Farmer's Almanac. Plenty of water where I am in Chicago so far this year, thanks to a very rainy spring. But I'll be keeping those tips in mind, since, as we know, you can't count on the weather. That's it for the show today. Here and Now Any Time comes from NPR and WBUR Boston. Peter's story on groundwater was edited by Shiko Feori and mixed by Matt Reed. The Gardening Talk was produced by Ashley Locke and edited by Micaela Rodriguez. Michael Scotto edited the podcast. technical direction from Caleb Green, Matt Reed, Marcel Damiano, and Andre Peralta.

20:44Our theme music is by Mike Moschetto, Max Liebman, and me, Chris Bentley. Our digital producers are Alison Hagen and Grace Griffin, and Here and Now's executive producer is Alan Price. Thanks for listening. Remember, there is always more to read and listen to at hereandnow.org. And Here and Now Anytime has a new episode every single weekday of the year. See you next time. Thank you.