More About Groundwater

The nearby City of Solon contributed about $1,000 to a four-year study of the Silurian Aquifer. By comparison, The U.S. Geological Survey contributed $153,000, Johnson County contributed $310,700, and the City of Marion, much larger than Solon, and a subject of the 2011 Silurian Aquifer study, didn’t give one penny. Johnson County is hosting the study and expected to eat cost overruns of about $50,000 thus far, Josh Busard, Director of the Johnson County Planning, Development and Sustainability Department said in a meeting I had with him yesterday.

I’ve been following sustainability of the Silurian Aquifer, where much of east-central Iowa draws groundwater, for almost 20 years. The meeting with Busard was prompted by County Supervisor Rod Sullivan after I sent him a link to this post. After the meeting, the good news is there is plenty of groundwater for the next couple years. Cut to the chase: Y’all should be conserving water where ever you live. The study is about a year from completion, said Busard.

The study is important locally because Solon, Tiffin, and North Liberty are among the fastest-growing cities in the state. Solon alone grew 50 percent in the 2020 U.S. Census. If Solon does nothing more than build out already approved subdivisions within city limits, it could easily add another 750 to 1,000 residents. That’s not to mention the many subdivisions surrounding the city. Each new person will bring increased demand for water. The entire area draws from the Silurian Aquifer.

I have a lot to say about what the study does and doesn’t do. I’ll save that for another post.

The main outcome of my meeting was to get up to date on what the county is doing. It is always positive to find someone else working on the same issues. We had a good conversation. Busard sent me some public documents to which I link below. If interested in the sustainability of the Silurian Aquifer, I recommend you read them.

Executive Summary for the Board of Supervisors.

Exhibit A to Scope of Work Agreement.

U.S. Geological Survey PowerPoint on the Johnson County Silurian Groundwater Model.

Read my previous post, “Enough Groundwater?” here.

Thanks for reading.