When Redmond resident Greg Havens heard a plan by his city to increase groundwater pumping to accommodate rapid growth, his heart sank. He worries the project will deplete the aquifer beneath his home and could cost thousands of dollars to deepen his existing well.

“There is a limit to how much Redmond can grow because there is only so much water to go around,” said Havens, 92. “But (the city) wants more water. They want to build all these homes. Well, it will be at the expense of my water.”

Havens’ concern is emblematic in Redmond, and Central Oregon, where homeowners across the region have kept drilling companies busy with well deepening projects as groundwater levels decline with each passing year.

Water experts point to several factors that are behind the shrinking resource. Climate change, drought and canal piping are the usual suspects. Some longtime residents say rapid housing growth has exacerbated the problem. But Redmond’s new effort won’t pull water from the same aquifer private wells use, according to water experts.

Havens’ own experience with groundwater in Redmond has increased his anxiety.

Since moving to Redmond in 1989 his private well, which he shares with a neighbor, has gone dry three times. The most recent incident occurred last year and could only be resolved by drilling a new well at a cost of $34,000. He has also spent an additional $10,000 on a new pump.

The city’s newest water expansion project — spearheaded by Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch — has caused anxiety that he’s headed for another dry well episode.

“I’m 92 years old,” he said. “I cannot afford $34,000 every two years or so to go another hundred feet deeper.”

Changing the water right

Redmond’s plan to increase groundwater pumping is centered on a 1915 water right for the Deschutes River. It grants the city 2 cubic feet of water per second, water that would be taken out of the Middle Deschutes portion of the river.

Fitch says he has no plans to take water from the Middle Deschutes, a section that receives low flows due to agricultural diversions. Taking water from the Deschutes would be counter to regionwide initiatives to raise the river to benefit wildlife.

Instead, Fitch wants to work with state regulators to convert the Deschutes water right to one that allows the city to use the same amount of groundwater.

Redmond applied for the transfer in June. Alyssa Rash, a spokesperson for the Oregon Water Resources Department says the application is still under review. The next stage in the process is issuance of a draft preliminary determination.

Rash said such a transfer is possible, “provided all applicable statutory requirements are met.”

Deschutes Aquifer

If the transfer is approved, the groundwater will be taken from a depth of around 800 feet, several hundred feet deeper than private wells, says Fitch. At this depth, Redmond will be pulling water from the Deschutes Aquifer, a highly porous 1,000-foot thick aquifer that sprawls across a large area of Central Oregon. Its makeup includes volcanic rock, ash and leftover sediment from ancient rivers.

The top of the Deschutes Aquifer is around 300 to 400 feet deep but the city’s wells go deeper into the body of the aquifer. Joe Kemper, a hydrologist with the Oregon Water Resources Department, says above-average rainfall will be needed to raise the Deschutes Aquifer, but that only occurs periodically in recent years.

“In the center of the basin around Redmond, groundwater levels have declined persistently since the mid-1990s and continue to decline at 2 feet per year,” said Kemper.

Fitch says because of the depth difference, the city and well owners are pulling water from different aquifers. Private wells are typically 200 to 400 feet in depth.

“I think most of the problems that people are experiencing with domestic wells going dry is because of the precipitation and higher temperatures and the more shallowness of the aquifer that they’re leaking into,” said Fitch.

Digging deeper

The precise depth that residents drill to doesn’t seem to make much difference these days as Haven and others around Redmond continue to invest in deeper wells. Haven said all his neighbors in an area northwest of downtown Redmond have been forced to dig deeper wells. Dry wells are always a concern.

“They gotta have some consideration for the rural people,” Havens said.

But Kemper says there isn’t much connection between the water the city wants to pump and the water now pumped by homeowners.

“It’s unlikely that if you pump from the deeper one it’s going to pull from the shallower stuff,” he said.

In almost all cases, shallow aquifers are a byproduct of the numerous open canals that thread their way through Redmond. Prior to their existence, aquifers would not have been found at shallow depths, Kemper says.

The shallow aquifers “are pretty much located where the canals are,” Kemper said, adding that for the most part, the shallow aquifers will disappear as canals are piped by the irrigation districts.

Because Redmond’s application is still pending, Kemper says it isn’t possible to say the level of impact on groundwater supplies if the city does receive a 2o cfs permit. Overall, 2 cfs isn’t much, but he says every little bit taken out does have an impact.

“It all adds up,” said Kemper. “It’s a death by a thousand cuts scenario in my head. There is less water coming from canals and there is less recharge coming from climate. You add more pumping on top of that and it all adds up.”