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Water resources need to be protected

As the California drought continues, agriculture may be moving eastward.   Jon Allan, Director of Michigan’s Office of the Great Lakes, says the abundance of water in the Great Lakes region is ideal for food production.

“I do think producers and contractors will be looking obviously to substitute out crops or substitute out suppliers.”

The Great Lakes Water Compact protects resources from leaving the Great Lakes Basin.  Allan says all industries contribute to water use reporting and resources need to be thoughtfully used and managed.  “We’re getting a better handle over time on how water is used, on how it’s coming from aquifer, how it’s coming from surface water.”

The Great Lakes make up 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply.  Allan tells Brownfield they’re being very diligent about making sure resources are not over used.  “It’s not something that we want to take for granted even though we live in a region of great surplus.”

According to Allan, not every aquifer is equal and that means water stress can be a possibility.  “We have seen occasions where water use had taxed an aquifer such that salts have come up, brines from deeper down have come up, so there are places where water stress can happen.”  Increasing irrigation wells could potentially tax the water supply, something Allan says they’re trying to be mindful of before new wells are put in.

Investing in sustainable management, he says, will be key in protecting water resources.

“Groups of individuals, farmers, communities are really spending the time and money necessary to do the evaluations, to do the hydrogeology, to look at recharge rates to see what’s sustainable.”  Allan says, “I don’t think anybody wants to put in infrastructure or to build a reliance on groundwater to find out that it’s not going to be there in the future based on changes.”

Whether in drought conditions or not, Allan says he believes conservation continues to be a good practice for those who have a lot of water and those who don’t.

AUDIO: Interview with Jon Allan (7:13 mp3):