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City seeing decline in water levels

By HOLLY DILLEMUTH

H&N REPORTER

Randy Travis, who manages the water and geothermal Division at the city of Klamath Falls, said he's seen a decline in water levels in the geothermal aquifer since reaching out to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 2012.

Travis describes two different types of aquifers that lend to differences in how water transfers below the earth's surface clay (basalt) and sand.

You can have a sand aquifer where most of it is sand and water moves through there fairly frequently, Travis said. Or, you can have a basalt aquifer where water moves through clay, not real quickly.

The Klamath Falls area geothermal aquifer is basalt, and was developed through clay of varying type and color, Travis said.

I always describe it to people as looking like a sponge, Travis said. That sponge will hold a certain amount of water. That's kind of what the groundwater aquifer begins to look like.

Travis said the drop in water levels are minimal and believes the increase in precipitation this year could change water levels in the coming years.

He estimates cooling of some geothermal wells could involve environmental factors such as the recent drought in Klamath County.

As it relates to declining water levels, Travis said: I think it's probably more of a factor of the dry years that we've had recently. We haven't seen a drop in temperature in either one of our wells and have only seen drops in the water levels.

More online users

Travis said he has heard through the grapevine that some private well owners believe additional use in the aquifer by users such as Oregon Tech, the city of Klamath Falls, the Herald and News building and anyone else on the ridge who has tapped into it as contributors to the cooling of private geothermal wells.

One-hundred percent of water pumped from city wells for geothermal use is re-injected into the geothermal aquifer, Travis said, which he added shows that the city isn't causing the lower water levels.

You may be taking some temperature out of it but you're not depleting the water level, he said. It potentially could be a water level issue, he said.

Water levels in the city's wells varies depending on time of year and whether the wells are being pumped. However, with that said, the static (no pumps running in either well) water levels in both wells appear to be approximately six to 10 feet lower as measured over the last 10-plus years Although the water levels in the city's wells appears to be lower when compared to historic levels, 100 percent of that water is being re-injected into another well located approximately one mile away.

Running at 'half-speed'

Travis led H&N staffers on a tour Friday of the city's two geothermal wells in the area of Laguna and Old Fort Road.

Opening the door to one of the wells, he noted the well measured 216 degrees Fahrenheit, an optimal temperature.

Nice and warm, he said, once inside the well room. This is a good place to be in the winter time.

The city measures flows in gallons per minute for the Geothermal Division, and personnel record the speed of the pump and the temperature three times a week, as well as the water measurement once per quarter.

On Friday Travis estimated the flows were approximately 400 to 500 gallons per minute, down from an approximate 950 1,000 gallons per minute on an average day in January.

Right now, we're running about half speed, Travis said. It's a relatively nice day so customers aren't needing a huge amount of heat.

We're pumping it out of this well, down through the heat-exchanger and then re-injecting it a well at the heat-exchanger, he added.

Sample surveys

Although the city doesn't make a practice of monitoring most private wells, Travis said the city started taking water level measurements of six to seven private wells, with permission of residents, eight to 10 years ago in order to monitor the general health of the geothermal aquifer.

There are roughly 500-600 private geothermal wells in the Klamath Falls area, according to John Lund, former director of the Geo Heat Center.

With that small of a cross-section (sampling), I suppose you could miss something, Travis said.

When asked if the geothermal aquifer is healthy, Travis said: It's obvious the water level has dropped and everybody admits that. What's the cause of it? Who knows. In all likelihood, my belief is that it's just a natural cycle. Five years from now, we could be looking at much higher water levels. That would have to do with the wet years we are experiencing now.

For all that is known about geothermal energy, Travis emphasizes much is still unknown about the energy.

I've heard a couple of our local consultants refer to it as 'black magic,' Travis said. I think that's tongue in cheek You don't have a window to see what's going on under the ground.

"I think it's still a very viable resource, but a person has to weigh that cost effectiveness with the benefits, Travis added.

It's never free heat in that at some point in time, your system's going to fail, whether the well collapses or pumps fail or pipes leaks. There's a cost always associated with it.

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