Water from heavy rainfall could take decades to reach aquifers, experts say.
The City of Lubbock is exploring several long-term water storage solutions to reclaim much of the water in order to slow down evaporation and runoff.
Professor Ken Rainwater researches water management at Texas Tech.
He says it takes water “typically years to decades” to reach the aquifer. He tells EverythingLubbock.com that “vertical distance from the water surface until we get to the water table” plays a role in how long it could take water to get to storage.
Rainwater from decades ago has been tracked working its way to local aquifers.
“Higher nitrates can be seen in unsaturated zones,” says Dr. William Asquith, U.S.G.S. Research Hdryologist. “Water from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s is still on it’s way down. Which is different than the aquifer in San Antonio.”
“There’s a continuous monitoring of wells,” says Carmon McCain, information and education supervisor with the High Plains Water District. HPWD is in the process of collecting data from wells to determine several long-term water storage solutions.
McCain says the well levels are updated quarterly, and the last time they had been updated was May 2015.
“The recharge of our groundwater on average is probably less than an inch a year,” says Aubrey Spear, Lubbock’s Director of Water Resources. “We’re withdrawing a lot more than that.”
