Wednesday, September 29, 1999
Growth gets blame for dwindling aquifer
BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Rapid development in Warren County's largest city may be straining the Shaker Creek aquifer, one of the richest water sources in Ohio.
Mason officials point to the current severe drought in response to complaints. But environmentalists and neighboring residents are pointing their fingers at Ohio's second-fastest growing city. They say Mason's boom is outpacing the aquifer's ability to recharge itself, leaving some who pump water from the same well field high and dry.
Mason's population rose from 11,450 in 1990 to an estimated 18,850 in 1998. And there's no sign the growth will stop.
Don Von Holle of Lebanon came to Mason's City Council meeting Monday night to state his concerns and those of his neighbors.
Mason's well is like a giant straw sucking up the ground water, he said. While the increased demand likely won't sap the water supply, it has lowered the water table, leaving all the shorter straws — residential wells like his — to draw air, not water.
City Council “is inviting too many people into Mason and it can't supply them with all the water they need,” Mr. Von Holle said Tuesday. “Mason has pumped so much water out of the aquifer, they've pumped my well dry. I don't even have a enough water for drinking.”
Mr. Von Holle, who has lived north of Mason on Ohio 741 for 35 years, has a 50-foot well on his property that taps into the Shaker Creek aquifer. He said up until a few years ago, water from his well was plentiful.
Now because of Mason's residential growth, Mr. Von Holle said, he doesn't have enough water to care for his 35-acre farm or his herd of cattle.
“It's a frustrating thing to drive through the city on Sundays and see people watering their lawns and I don't even have enough water to do my laundry,” Mr. Von Holle said.
Mason officials say they sympathize with Mr. Von Holle. However, the city cannot accept full responsibility for the aquifer's low levels.
“A lot of the problem has to do with the fact that we're having our worst dry spell since 1932,” said Mason Utilities Superintendent Ernie Stickler.
An aquifer is an underground formation of sand, gravel and rock in which water fills the empty spaces and is preserved. Aquifers are depen dent on precipitation to replenish their water supply.
With only 0.02 inches of rainfall in the Tristate in September before Tuesday, Mr. Stickler said there is little wonder why some wells are coming up dry.
But Mr. Von Holle isn't buying that argument.
“The city wants to blame this whole thing on the drought, but my well was running low well before this dry spell,” he said.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has been investigating the complaints of Mr. Von Holle and several other residents who live along Hamilton Road in Lebanon since August. ODNR's Division of Water is expected to release it findings in a final report this week.
Mason officials learned of ODNR's investigation on Monday when a draft copy of the report arrived at the municipal building. Although the draft report did not blame Mason for the low ground-water levels, it did imply the city may have contributed to the problem.
Mason Mayor Betty Davis said it is unfair to blame the city, especially when Monroe, Lebanon, Lebanon Correctional Institute, Warren County and Otterbein-Lebanon Retirement Community also tap into the aquifer.
“We are not pumping any more from the aquifer than we are allowed to,” Ms. Davis said noting the city pumps an average of 3 million gallons per day.
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