HomeVideo Archive2019-10-12 Decline of Our Shared Aquifer: Why It Matters Now and What We Can Do About It

How much is the quantity of water in our aquifer decreasing, how does the decline impact our water future and what steps can Prescott and its neighbors take to reduce this increasing rate of depletion?

These critical questions are explored at this presentation by the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG).

Decline of Our Shared Aquifer: Why It Matters Now from CWAGAZ on Vimeo.

Virtually all of the water for domestic and industrial use in the Prescott region is pumped from the local groundwater basin within the Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA). Ed Wolfe, retired geologist and CWAG board member, discussed the unanticipated and accelerating rate of groundwater decline and the unlikelihood of reaching safe yield by the established target date of 2025. Safe yield is the long-term balance between the amount of groundwater withdrawn from the aquifer and the amount returned through precipitation, runoff, and reclaimed effluent.

Wolfe also addressed the imperative of working with Chino Valley, Dewey-Humboldt, Prescott Valley and unincorporated areas of Yavapai County — all within the PrAMA — to develop strategies that will assure our future water supply. These include the establishment of water conservation policies across the PrAMA and the development of a long-range water sustainability plan such as those in place in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Wolfe, PhD, founding member of CWAG, worked for the U.S. Geological Survey before retiring and is the former chairman of the Verde Watershed Association.

DAILY DROPLET

  • "Ranchers need clean water for their stock, farmers need it for their crops, every employer needs it to stay in business, and every living thing needs it for life... The law needs to be clear to protect water quality and the rights of landowners."
    Mark Udall

  • "Water is the driver of Nature."
    Leonardo da Vinci

  • "When the well is dry, we know the worth of water."
    Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1746

  • "...and since flow of information is to spirit what water is to life, we'd best think about how to keep the pipes free and unclogged."
    Raphie Frank

  • "In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference."
    Rachel Carson

  • "We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one."
    Jacques Yves Cousteau

  • "Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water."
    Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine

  • "Water is everywhere and in all living things; we cannot be separated from water. No water, no life. Period..."
    Robert Fulghum

  • "It's the water. Everything is driven by the water."
    Mike Thompson

  • "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."
    Mark Twain