Using Groundwater to Revive Rivers

Nebraska is one of several states in the western U.S. that pumps groundwater into rivers to satisfy an interstate compact.

By Brett Walton
Circle of Blue
January 19, 2014

States choose this path in order to achieve the twin goals of protecting their own agricultural economy and increasing river flows to downstream neighbors.

Rather than shut down vast numbers of wells or drastically reduce water allocations across the board – actions with a severe economic penalty and a long lag time because of groundwater’s slow movement – regulators target certain water rights for “retirement.” Instead of nourishing grain, the water is “retired” from agricultural use to feed a stream.

New Mexico, for instance, pumps water from two well fields in its eastern scrublands into the Pecos River to ensure deliveries to an in-state irrigation district and to Texas. The Bureau of Reclamation operates a similar project in Colorado’s San Luis Valley to bolster flows in the Rio Grande River. And in eastern Colorado, the Republican River Water Conservation District is planning to funnel groundwater into its stretch of the river.

These arrangements provide immediate relief – water for the river now, when the neighbor is clamoring for it. But if not well designed, the projects can cause their own problems, cautions Edella Schlager, a professor of public policy at the University of Arizona, who studies water management in the western U.S.

Filling rivers with groundwater will lead to a decrease in water use only if corresponding cuts are made elsewhere, she said.

“If it’s a long-term solution, there has to be attention to how to make up for the pumped water,” Schlager told Circle of Blue. “If that’s not done, then you are pumping a bigger deficit, just borrowing water against the future to deliver now.”