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Winners of the Joe Gelt Undergraduate Writing Competition
The WRRC is pleased to announce this year’s winners of the Joe Gelt Undergraduate Writing Competition!
The Water Resources Research Center’s annual writing contest is in its second year, commemorating Joe Gelt, WRRC’s longtime editor, who recently retired. Undergraduate students at The University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University were invited to submit magazine style feature articles on a water related topic chosen from a list of six specified categories. The winning articles are published in the Arizona Water Resource and the grand prize winner receives $100.
Joni Northam is the grand prize winner with her article, “Open-Ocean or Land-based Desalination: Responses to Water Scarcity that Reduce Environmental Impacts.” Joni also won the University of Arizona prize. The judges praised Northam’s article as “well researched”, “interesting and
imely,” since desalination is currently a hot topic in Arizona. Joni states that “It is very obvious water is a critical finite resource; with this in mind water has always been of interest to me whether it be water governance, usage, or access. The idea that every human has the right to clean drinking water but does not have the access breaks my heart. That is why I focused my piece on making water mobile and potentially more accessible through desalinization ships.” Joni is currently studying in the School of Geography & Development at the University of Arizona and hopes to one day work for a non-governmental organization in the Near East/ North Africa region that focuses on developing infrastructure to eliminate poverty. She would like to thank Professor Christopher Scott for introducing her to the writing competition and encouraging her to explore innovative water concepts.
Deborah Englisch won the Northern Arizona University prize with her article, “The Case for Pumping the Big Chino Aquifer.” She is studying in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Northern Arizona University.
Deborah states that “I feel it is important to address water issues because in the Southwestern United States we are already facing water problems. I chose my topic because it is important to evaluate the benefits and possible negative consequences of making decisions regarding where, when, and how much water to allocate to support a population. It is essential that we examine how human uses of water and the natural environments need for water can coexist.”
Deborah is interested in pursuing a graduate degree in which she can apply her economics background to environmental issues and is in the process of applying to the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. She would like to thank Dr. Dean H. Smith, her environmental economics professor, for disadhis knowledge, expertise, and encouragement in motivating her to enter the writing competition.
Articles were judged by an independent panel of writing professionals, which included Shaun McKinnon of the Arizona Republic, Joanna Dodder of the Prescott Daily Courier, and Joe Gelt, retired WRRC editor.
This contest is a unique opportunity for student writers to see their work published. The Arizona Water Resource reaches a wide audience that includes water professionals and policy makers in addition to the interested public.
Opinions expressed in the students’ articles do not necessarily reflect those of the WRRC, its director, or staff.
Open-Ocean or Land-Based Desalination: Responses to Water Scarcity that Reduce Environmental Impacts
By Joni Northam
To desalinate ocean water on ships or on land, that is the real question. The innovative technology of desalinization ships is starting to make head way as a possible means to augment drinking water, according to an article in Arizona Water Resource (see AWR Sep-Oct 2008). With a gallon of bottled water able to be sold for more than a gallon of gas, many companies are searching for effective, cheap, and quick methods of obtaining that clean water. While there are a few well-known strategies for accessing water through non-conventional means, such as collecting rain water, there is still a high demand and need to secure water supplies for future use. With the increasing scarcity and competition for fresh water, desalination is an increasingly attractive option to meet growing demands.
The concept of desalination ships is quite simple. With the ship above water, the anchor is dropped. A long pipeline is then connected to the ship and submerged deep into the ocean where little to no sunlight can reach, thus less life is present. It is very important that these pipelines go deep into the water where there will be minimal disruption water is sucked through a small tube and brought up into the ship. The water is then distilled to separate most of the salt from the water. Once the water evaporates it rises andis condensed on various platforms and the salt remains, a heavy substance, sitting at the bottom. The water is then filtered through numerous membrane screens and is accumulated in one tank. Another ship then comes to the desalinization ship and collects the purified water to bring it back to shore. The salt is then dispersed back into the ocean.
California is looking into ship-based desalination as a method to create more California water supply and ease their dependence on the water from inland sources including the Colorado River. If California were to decrease its water withdrawals from the Colorado, this would potentially leave more for Arizona or Nevada with rights to smaller shares of Colorado River water, if they were willing to help pay for the desalination. It might also leave more water in natural ecosystems so as to decrease the rate of depletion and potentially replenish over-extracted water sources like aquifers.
If Arizona were to invest in desalinization ships, a similar process might apply: there would be fewer claims on Central Arizona Project (CAP) water. With Arizona being able to process salt water into drinking water, this innovation would lessen the impact of groundwater depletion. With either California or Arizona, or both, potentially utilizing distilling ships, there may be less of an impact on the Colorado River, as well as the other groundwater resources and aquifers. And considering the economy, such a project would surely create jobs in fields such as engineering, ship operations, and truck driving, with different levels of education, making the jobs accessible to many workers in need.
But why desalinization ship instead of a land-based plant? First of all there is the environmental impact. While both technologies have the risk of disturbing the surrounding ecosystems, research is leaning towards the idea that a ship has less harmful side effects than those of a land-based site. Also, Arizona would be able to invest in a ship and be exempt from certain California laws and regulations that would apply to a land-based plant, if built in that state, making access to water easier.
A major positive discovery with using desalinization ships versus land-based facilities is that the ships use a smaller pipeline that goes deep into the ocean where there is no sunlight and potentially few organisms to upset and so disturb the food chain. The tube is long and narrow making it impossible to suck up fish and other macroorganisms. With land-based pipelines, the tubing can only go so far down before it hits the ocean shelf where many plants and animals may reside. This is not only an issue for altering their natural habitat, but also their physical safety. These pipelines are wider and run the risk of sucking up those animals, not only threatening their safety but also clogging the passage way, which then takes time and money to fix.
With land-based plants not only are animals at risk of beingcaught in the pipelines’ suction, but also the byproduct of the desalinizing process is quite harmful. Once the water has been purified, the left over salt is a very hot, extra salty brine. This excess is either collected on land, or it is dumped into one concentrated area in the ocean, disturbing the natural pH balance. Any time the environment is disturbed this can cause a repercussion not only to that local area, but also to any businesses or related development in the present day and generations to come. This potentially could affect Arizona in a number of ways: increased cost of water, indirect chain reactions on the environment, and heightened insecurity of water supplies.
Yet the possibilities of open ocean desalination are enormous. The ships’ power plants have the capacity to run on biofuel. A single ship could produce as much as 50 million gallons of drinking water a day—enough for hundreds of thousands of people. Certain companies claim permits for shipboard desalination are far easier to obtain than permits for land-based plants, thereby saving time and money. Some businesses estimate they could have a desalination ship ready for service in 14 months, whereas a land-based plant can take two to five years to build and get permit clearances.
Another added bonus in using a ship versus a plant is the idea of being mobile. The ship can move from one area to another, thereby dispersing the left over salt versus making one area supersaturated from a land-based plant. These ships can also be sent around the world to areas in high need and ideally, with financial backing, can help other areas facing possible severe shortages.
The Case for Pumping the Big Chino Aquifer
By Deborah Englisch
Should pumping of the Big Chino Aquifer be allowed and encouraged despite the possible threat it poses to the ecosystems and flow of the Verde River? Two USGS studies found that the upper 25 miles of the Verde River, known as the upper Verde, originate from the Big Chino Aquifer. Although a
relationship between the Big Chino Aquifer and Verde River is evident, the complexity of this hydrologic system is not fully understood, and therefore it cannot be said with certainty that pumping of the Big Chino will endanger the rivers survival. It is equally important to sustain both the Verde River and human activities of the area.
Pumping of the Big Chino is currently the least cost means of meeting ground water regulations; while at the same time the Big Chino aquifer is the most practical and reliable water import source currently available. The pipeline project includes monitoring wells that will give clearer insight into the complex hydrological system of the Verde River and its relationship to the Big Chino Aquifer. Investment in the project will therefore yield new knowledge that benefits all parties; and if in fact the Verde River is at risk, actions can be put in place to mitigate damage to the Big Chino Aquifer and Verde River.
Context of the Situation
With rapid population growth and expansion of Yavapai County, the towns of Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and the City of Prescott face problems finding a dependable water source to support their populations. These towns and cities are a part of the Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA), covering 485 square miles in central Yavapai County, which contains a large percentage of the population and therefore has a high volume of water consumption. Under Arizona state water regulations, PrAMA is responsible for meeting a safe yield water management goal by 2025. The goal is “to achieve and thereafter maintain a long term balance between the amount of groundwater withdrawn in an active management area and the annual amount of natural and artificial recharge in the active management area,” as the Groundwater Code states.
As of 1999, PrAMA is no longer within a safe yield zone. PrAMA is no longer in this safe yield zone because the rate of ground water usage is not balanced with an equal rate of recharge into the aquifer. In other words, water is extracted and consumed at higher rates and volumes than water is replenished into the aquifer, which threatens groundwater availability for future generations of the PrAMA. As a result the cities within PrAMA must find water from outside sources in order to preserve the ground water levels. The pipeline could deliver as much as 3 billion gallons a year into the AMA to meet the safe yield goal.
The Prescott area cities believe that the Big Chino aquifer is the only reliable source of water currently feasible for PrAMA. Other AMAs such as Phoenix supplement groundwater with Colorado River water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which is a reliable water import source. PrAMA does not have the ability to import water through the CAP because of high transportation costs. Unfortunately, this factor gives towns in PrAMA a disadvantage and the burden of finding their own reliable water source. After much evaluation and research, they decided on the Big Chino Aquifer. PrAMA is able to pump from the Big Chino because of a special exemption to the law that prohibits groundwater transfers into AMAs. Pumping from the Big Chino is therefore a legal water resource proposal.
Offsetting Harm to the Verde River
The City of Prescott plans to pump 8,063 acre-feet per year out of the Big Chino sub-basin, which has a total storage capacity of 15,000,000 acre-feet. Prescott’s officials do not believe that pumping will harm the Verde River, but to be on the safe side, wells will be in place to monitor basin groundwater levels before pumping starts.
Several strategies have been proposed to offset the negative impacts on the Verde River and Big Chino Aquifer. If monitoring wells do detect a problem with the groundwater levels, then Prescott could mitigate these problems with a three-fold plan. First, Prescott could retire historically irrigated acres that are a part of the Big Chino water ranch purchase, offsetting the pumping. If that does not work well enough, Prescott could purchase even more historically irrigated land, retiring those wells, and thereby offsetting a greater portion of the pumping. The third part of this plan would entail the use of conservation easements throughout the entire basin. This would enable Prescott to virtually govern growth, which occurs along the sub basin, by keeping ranches as ranches so the rate of water use would be stable. Clearly, if the City of Prescott measures the groundwater extracted from the Big Chino basin and if a dangerous level is detected, they could act to sustain the aquifer and the river for the long-term.
Through the process of utilizing effluent (reclaimed water) to meet city needs and taking a percentage of that effluent water to recharge the Big Chino aquifer, the PrAMA could come into compliance with Arizona water regulations. By recharging the aquifer with treated effluent (in combination with natural recharge from rain) the cities could offset the amount extracted, bringing a balance between human uses of the groundwater, and natural uses of the groundwater such as a source of water for the Verde River.
Conclusion
Human failure to conserve groundwater in the past has created the current problems for the Prescott Active Management Area to comply with groundwater regulations. PrAMAs geographic location gives it a disadvantage to import water from other reliable sources, and few options exist to come into compliance with Arizona water regulations. The Big Chino aquifer appears to many residents to be the best feasible option to providing a reliable water supply to maintain the livelihood of the PrAMA population now and in the immediate future. If harm to the Verde River occurs as a result of pumping from the Big Chino aquifer, strategies can be put into effect to offset damage and protect the river’s survival. A pipeline to an alternate reliable water resource for long-term use may be a better solution, but the Big Chino Aquifer could serve as a short-term water source.