More on the drought video

Why haven't we heard anything about "digging the well deeper"! In other words, where these reservoirs are now drying up, why aren't we digging them deeper so that in the future more water would be available to help us over these dry periods. Thanks...

This is an interesting question. I think there are at least a couple reasons. First, digging out the bottom of a reservoir is a major, expensive project, and I suspect that it takes months or years of planning to do it right. Unless such a proposal is already in the works before the drought comes along, it would be hard for an agency to assemble the equipment, design the project, get all the required permits, and obtain state or federal funding for the project during the drought.

The other reason was pointed out to me just this week: when reservoirs are created by dams, the dams are designed to hold the pressure from the water behind them, plus a safety factor. Digging the reservoir deeper = more water behind the dam = more pressure. So it would be pretty important to study the dam carefully to make that it could stand up to the increased weight beyond its original design standards.

There may be other explanations. Anybody have ideas?

On the other hand, Fall Lake and Jordan Lake and other artificial lakes tend to silt up relatively quickly, losing their water storage capacity (though stronger enforcement of sediment and erosion laws upstream can help slow this problem). So, at some point, we will face the question of whether it is worth it to dredge to restore capacity. I think digging looks better as an option if you assume that growth in demand must or will continue indefinitely and we must protect or expand capacity to meet that demand. If you start from the framework that there’s a basic level of water available, and everything we do to increase that amount or stretch it imposes costs or requires trade offs, I suspect deepening reservoirs doesn’t stack up as well against other potential uses of the same taxpayer or consumer dollars (on such alternatives as buying water efficient appliances, replacing leaking pipes, and capturing runoff from roofs.