"An 'inconvenient truth'"

PhillyBurbs.com: "An 'inconvenient truth,'" by Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, August 3, 2009:

Spring and summer rains are simply a Band-Aid on a growing water crisis in Upper Bucks.

"We're not out of the woods by any means," said Stephen Donovan, research scientist for the Bridgeton-Nockamixon-Tinicum Groundwater Committee.

A new report outlines increased stress on ground water around Palisades High School and the surrounding region.

If levels continue to decline, it eventually could spell disaster for the school district and area homeowners, all of whom rely on private wells to pull water from the underlying rock where it is collected.


"The region had a normal rainfall season last year, suggesting the content of the aquifer is a declining and unsustainable resource with a risk of running out at the current rate of withdrawal," according to the report.

For comparative data, the groundwater committee is spending its summer monitoring water well levels on the same 1,000 homes measured by U.S. Geological Survey scientists in the early 1990s.

But the groundwater committee can just report how fast the water is receding. Only the township supervisors have the authority pass regulations to protect it.

Nockamixon Township Supervisor Chairwoman Nancy Janyszeski is waiting for the committee's final conclusions before moving forward.

"They're basically on a data-collecting project. How that data is going to be interpreted, I have no idea," she said. "I think it's a basis for study."

Palisades High School water levels have dropped 150 feet since 1950, when its well first was established.

Last September, the high school well's water level was 202 feet below the surface, and by the end of this summer it likely will be 235 feet under, according to estimates.

Palisades School District officials are cooperating with groundwater committee members, and continue to be updated on water meter data installed at the high school and middle school.

"The water level has remained the same. Even with all the rain and school closing out, we're pretty much holding our own," said facilities manager Dave Keppel. "We're just going to collect another year's worth of data to see if we continue to decline or not. We're obviously watching it very closely."

Although plenty of summer rain has helped keep wells at about the same level, it's not enough to solve the long-term problem, said Donovan.

According to data released in January, water levels dropped 25 feet from 2007 to 2008.

June's water meter data, which measures the high school and the same sampling of Nockamixon homes, shows a 30-foot drop from 2008 to present.

More nearby homeowners, especially along Buck and Mountain View roads, are being forced to re-drill or deepen private wells to find more water.

The average well depth in Pennsylvania is 180 feet, but most Nockamixon wells are now double that.

Members of Bridgeton-Nockamixon-Tinicum Groundwater Committee, which serves as an advisory board to those municipalities, are working to bring officials from each township to the table in hopes the problem can be approached on all fronts.

"I want them to own this thing," said Donovan. "It's not that it's just the groundwater committee problem, and shoot the bearers of bad news. Right now it's pretty clear we have a problem. The degree of the problem hasn't been fully fleshed out. How big the problem, how long term is the problem - that is a little nebulous."

Nockamixon supervisor Janyszeski hopes to eventually hold public forums and launch an educational campaign.

"Water is a concern. There's no question. I think the biggest challenge I feel the board has is educating our residents as to what that challenges are. We need to get a handle on that water is not infinite," she said. "Once water is gone, it's gone."

Until township officials step in, there is little the team of scientists can do but measure and compare water meters on private properties that allow them to.

Some businesses or large facilities, such as the high school, are cooperating with the committee and have allowed on-site monitoring, if requested.

Although current data available to the committee does not specifically name a single school, business or homeowner as the source of the problem, its critical business owners and homeowners understand that water conservation is essential, said Donovan.

"The problem is not going away. People aren't going away and the aquifer isn't going to change, and if there is a problem, we're just going to have to deal with it, compensate for it and educate ourselves," said Donovan, who noted water eventually might have to be trucked in to the region at a high expense.

Until local officials play a role in regulation and homeowners and business owners take giant leaps toward conservation, an exhausted water resource would mean a very real crisis in Upper Bucks.

"There's some inconvenient truths that will become self evident in the future," said Donovan.