Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of California
Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Groundwater records should be public, says UC ANR expert

Because of a 64-year-old law in California, groundwater information (like groundwater) is out of sight.
Thomas Harter, a groundwater hydrologist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) has called for a change in California law that will make information about the state's dwindling underground stores of water available to the public.

Harter, a UC ANR specialist based at UC Davis, and co-author Laurel Firestone, shared their thoughts in an op-ed penned for The Guardian. Firestone is co-executive director of the Community Water Center in California, which helps disadvantaged communities gain access to clean, affordable water. 

The authors wrote that state records with information needed to characterize groundwater aquifers are kept confidential under a 64-year-old law that considers them proprietary to well drillers. The well logs contain data that is public in every other state in the West and include details such as where wells are located, their depth, potential pumping rates, diameter and descriptions of the sediments and rocks the wells go through.

"The lack of information is a major impediment to stewardship of the resource," the op-ed says.

California State Senator Fran Pavley introduced Senate Bill 20 in December, which if passed will make well log data publicly available in California.

"Perhaps as more community and farm wells dry up this summer, the legislature will extend its enthusiasm for transparency to the critical information needed for more equitable and sustainable management of our groundwater," Garter and Firestone conclude.

Posted on Monday, March 30, 2015 at 1:18 PM
Tags: drought (194), groundwater (27), Thomas Harter (16)

Comments:

1.
Again, Thomas is shaking leaves off the tree that shades him. That's the mark of good scholarship and scientific integrity. Water is community resource, no matter where it it resides. Transparency is the only way to assure its preservation and sustainable distribution and use.

Posted by Aziz Baameur on April 8, 2015 at 1:49 PM

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