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Sources for the Water Page

Each entry names the document or recording, the page or the time, and what it says. PBAC documents open on PBAC's own site. Recordings open on YouTube at the cited time. Every claim on the water page is listed here.

  1. PBAC pumping, weather, and water levels deck, February 19, 2026.
    Slide 39 gives the average decline since 2013 (0.72 ft/yr). Slide 40 gives 0.69 ft/yr for 2013 to 2017 and 0.80 ft/yr for 2019 to 2023. Slide 41 gives Moscow's average pumping by aquifer: upper 253 and lower 581 million gallons (2006 to 2017), upper 7 and lower 773 (2019 to 2024). Slide 42 gives the estimated safe yield of the east-side upper-aquifer wells, 170 million gallons a year. Slide 8 gives per capita pumping change since 1992.Download the deck (PowerPoint).
  2. Steve Robischon, PBAC technical manager, PBAC meeting of February 19, 2026, at 39 minutes 48 seconds.
    "by cutting themselves out of the upper aquifer, they've added a new Palouse and UI to the lower aquifer."Watch from 39:48.
  3. PBAC Annual Water Use Report 2019, pages 3 to 4.
    Explains that Moscow's upper-aquifer water is filtered for iron and manganese, that the filters cost money and waste water, and that the city cut upper-aquifer pumping to about 2 percent of supply.Open the report.
  4. John H. Bush, geologist, PBAC meeting of November 17, 2022, at 1:10:50 and 1:25:19.
    "we have modern recharge water in the upper aquifer in Moscow that can produce. It hasn't changed" and "recharge calculations have been repeated by four different people it's about the same number." The 400 to 500 million gallon figure is stated in the same presentation.Watch from 1:10:50. The second passage is at 1:25:19.
  5. John H. Bush Lecture Series, Part 7, Upper Aquifer Characteristics.
    At 21:01: "it hasn't changed even with all the development the blacktop in the moscow area all the highways the parking lots it still has a capacity it still recharges with modern water." Also Part 10 on the lateral recharge pathway from the Palouse Range.Watch Part 7 from 21:01.
  6. PBAC Annual Report 2025, pages 5 and 6.
    Page 5: 2025 pumping by entity (Moscow 845, Pullman 924, WSU 425, UI 126, Palouse 65 million gallons) and monthly shares. Page 6: population and pumping change from 1992 (Pullman population +49%, Moscow +42%, Pullman plus WSU pumping -7.6%, Moscow plus UI pumping -18.9%).Open the report.
  7. Steve Robischon, 2020 pumping numbers presentation (recorded March 2021), at 39:38.
    On per capita figures computed for a city without its university: "a false number." Mike Faupel, PBAC executive manager, at the 2025 Water Summit: "please don't compare per capita water use inside the Palouse Basin."Watch from 39:38.
  8. PBAC, 2015 Informational Update to the 1992 Ground Water Management Plan.
    Reprints the 1992 plan and the entity action plans. Moscow: "Attempt to limit annual aquifer pumping increases to one percent ... At no time shall the accumulated total or pumping exceed 125% of the 1981-1985 average (increase from 700 mgy to 875 mgy)." The update calls these "voluntary (1% annual increase and 125% ceiling) standards in the 1992 plan."Open the update.
  9. PBAC 2021 pumping deck, February 17, 2022, page 11.
    Bar charts of annual pumping for Moscow, Pullman, WSU, and UI, 1992 to 2021, with each entity's 125 percent ceiling. Moscow above 875 in 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2015. Pullman at 998 against 959 in 2021.Open the deck.
  10. PBAC 2000 Annual Report, page 4.
    "Of the four entities, only Moscow exceeds the voluntary pumping limits. Moscow's pumpage has exceeded the 125-percent ceiling limit and the allowable 1-percent curve for several consecutive years."Open the report.
  11. Tyler Palmer, PBAC vice chair, PBAC meeting of January 19, 2023 (video dated January 20), at 1:35:59.
    The 1992 plan required cooperation "in order to fend off getting declared a critical groundwater management area."Watch from 1:35:59.
  12. Steve Robischon, PBAC meeting of February 16, 2023, at 46:32.
    "both of these targets really are based upon a groundwater model that was flawed." Earlier in the same meeting he called the 1 percent target "a bogus target."Watch from 46:32.
  13. Steve Robischon, monitoring primer from the January 19, 2023 PBAC meeting, at 20:27.
    On the upper-aquifer monitoring well at Moscow's old police station: "the upper aquifer is recharging and going back to the levels that it used to be before it was pumped."Watch from 20:27.
  14. Moscow City Council regular meeting, September 8, 2026, public testimony.
    Mark Solomon spoke from 58:52 (quotes at 59:37, 1:01:23, and 1:02:29, used in points 1, 5, and 4) and again from 2:07:53 (quote at 2:10:27, point 7). The times are from the meeting recording. The recording is on the City of Moscow's YouTube channel; the minutes are on the City's CivicClerk portal.City of Moscow YouTube channel.
  15. Anchor QEA and HDR Engineering for PBAC, Palouse Groundwater Basin Water Supply Alternatives Analysis Report, March 2017, pages 16 to 17.
    Sets the supplemental supply target at 2,324 million gallons a year: 1,588 for projected growth at 1 percent a year, plus an "aquifer stabilization amount" of 735 million gallons a year defined as "current or baseline irrigation demand."Open the report.
  16. PBAC 2022 Annual Report, page 4.
    "During the three months of July through September the water pumped accounted for 43.1% of the water used for the entire year. In theory, if outdoor irrigation use was eliminated, those months would have used roughly 18.9% of the annual water use."Open the report.
  17. Michael Reeves, Estimating Recharge Uncertainty in the Wanapum Aquifer System, University of Idaho thesis, 2009.
    "The Wanapum aquifer system receives recharge, but there is no consensus on the amount of recharge. Estimates of recharge in the Basin range from 0.2 to 4.8 inches per year."Open the thesis.
  18. Piersol and Sprenke, A Columbia River Basalt Group Aquifer in Sustained Drought, Resources, 2015, page 17.
    "The first order unknown is recharge. Although the mechanism remains elusive, currently more than 90% of the water pumped annually is replenished by recharge unrelated to head."Open the paper.
  19. Shawn Kohtz and Sean Coates, PBAC meetings of 2022.
    Coates, March 17, 2022, at 34:36: the model "is not going to be valuable from a predictive standpoint." Kohtz, May 19, 2022, at 1:18:26: "it's not a good predictive model at this point." Kohtz, November 17, 2022, at 1:47:25: "we would have to spend a lot of money drilling holes essentially to get a good solid predictive model."Watch Kohtz from 1:18:26 (May 19, 2022).
  20. Palouse Ground Water Basin Framework Project, Final Report, January 2011.
    PBAC's own synthesis of every study of the basin. Section 3 reviews the recharge estimates from 1923 onward and records that "Most researchers state that recharge is less than discharge in the lower aquifer." On the deep aquifer's extent: "One of the data gaps is a lack of water-level elevation data for the deep aquifer in the northern and western areas of the currently defined Basin, and consequently, definition of the boundaries in these areas." No estimate of the volume of water in storage is given.Open the report.
  21. Fairley, Solomon, Hinds, Grader, Bush, and Rand, Latah County Hydrologic Characterization Project, Final Report, September 30, 2006, submitted to the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
    Drilled 47 boreholes along the Moscow Mountain front to test whether recharge enters the shallow aquifer there. Conclusion: "the present study found little evidence to support this widely-accepted hypothesis"; most infiltration "flows laterally ... until it discharges into local streams"; the area "near to, and west of, the state line may be a potential recharge area." Mark Solomon is the second author.Open the report.
  22. Dale R. Ralston, Professor Emeritus of Hydrogeology, University of Idaho, Hydrologic Conditions in the Palouse Aquifer, briefing to the Idaho Legislature's interim committee, 2004.
    "Does this aquifer receive recharge? Yes," and then: "we do not know if the recharge rate is greater than or less than the combined pumping rate of the four entities." Also: "present estimates of recharge rates have large error band."Open the slides (PDF).
  23. Idaho Department of Water Resources, Order of December 1, 2004, In the Matter of Petition Seeking Designation of a Critical Ground Water Area, Designation of a Ground Water Management Area, Moratoriums on Approval of New Water Right Appropriations, and Other Actions; and Order Denying Petition for Reconsideration, January 4, 2005.
    The petition was filed November 21, 2003 by the Palouse Water Conservation Network, Friends of the Clearwater, Moscow Civic Association, the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club, and the Idaho Conservation League. All seven requests were denied. The Director ordered an annual review of water levels and of PBAC's plan and the creation of a citizens advisory group. Conclusion of Law 8: "Available information is also inadequate to determine that water use exceeds the reasonably anticipated average rate of future natural recharge in the lower aquifer." The 2005 order: "While the Goals and entity action plans are voluntary, progress toward assuring a continuing reasonably safe ground water supply is being made." Neither order sets a pumping limit on the City of Moscow. Both are in IDWR's public order archives: file 12-01-2004 Moscow Ground Water Order.pdf in the 2004 archive and 01-04-2005 Petition for Reconsideration of Moscow Ground Water Designation Denied.pdf in the 2005 archive.Download IDWR's 2004 order archive (ZIP, 29 MB). The 2005 archive is at idwr.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/legal/orders/2005/2005-orders-archive.zip.
  24. Laura Heinse, candidate for Latah County commissioner, testimony to the Moscow City Council, September 8, 2026, from 1:05:19; the well remark is at 1:05:45.
    "there is a water issue here my well was run dry the last two days and it's a big challenge for us up on the mountain."City of Moscow YouTube channel.
  25. John H. Bush, Granite Well Reports, PBAC technical session, October 10, 2024, at 48:46 and 1:00:44.
    "when you get into real granite, low yield wells, they're probably mostly coming from soft zones and fractures" and "once they're into hard granite, they're probably not connected to the aquifers down in Moscow" (48:46, attributing the view to Dale Ralston). At 1:00:44: "I think they're connected but they're not the same water levels ... every one of these wells water level is like 15, 20 feet from the top of the well."Watch from 48:46.
  26. Opatz, Evaluation of Cleaning and Rehabilitation of UI Well No. 2, University of Idaho thesis, 2007, in PBAC's library.
    "Area residents are concerned in drier years because some domestic wells have gone dry by the end of the five-month dry season due to decline of the water table."Open the thesis (PDF).
  27. PBAC meetings of September 18, 2025 (7:44) and November 20, 2025 (33:49): the University of Idaho recharge-zone well study.
    September: "So far, we've already sampled 10 wells and we're looking to get up to about 50 or maybe higher." November: "we have 19 already sampled." The study samples private wells on the Moscow Mountain sediment apron east of Highway 95 to trace where recharge enters the aquifer. Neither report to the committee mentions a dry well.Watch the September report from 7:44. The November report is at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gsaISyCZrE&t=2025">youtube.com/watch?v=6gsaISyCZrE&t=2025</a>.
  28. Osiensky and Folnagy, A Preliminary, Aquifer Test Based, Conceptual Hydrogeologic Model of Apparent Compartmentalization in the Grande Ronde Aquifer System of the Palouse Groundwater Basin, PBAC Analysis Report 6-2024-1, June 2024.
    Models the first 372 days of PBAC's 800-day basin-wide aquifer test (2009 to 2012) as three isolated compartments. Its recommendation: "Verification of the calibrated models is necessary to evaluate their potential value as predictive, groundwater management tools." The verification phase, days 372 to 800, has not been done. No storage volume for the aquifer is given.Open the report (PDF).
  29. Grijseels, Litvak, Avolio, and others, Evapotranspiration of Residential Lawns Across the United States, Water Resources Research, vol. 59, 2023, e2022WR032893.
    Field measurements of 79 residential lawns in six United States metropolitan areas. "ETvol ranged from ~0 L d-1 to over 2,000 L d-1, proportionally increasing with lawn area" (p. 1). On shade (p. 12): residential lawn water loss "was in close agreement with ETinst of the lawns in Los Angeles parks that were shaded by 70%-80% tree cover ... and less than half the ETinst of unshaded lawns in the parks." And (p. 16): "due to the shade from residential buildings, trees, and other objects, turfgrass lawns in residential settings have lower ETinst compared to fully sunlit turfgrass lawns."Open the paper (PDF, USDA Forest Service mirror).
  30. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies, chapter 2, Trees and Vegetation.
    Page 6: "Evapotranspiration, alone or in combination with shading, can help reduce peak summer air temperatures," with measured reductions including "Suburban areas with mature trees that are 4 to 6°F (2 to 3°C) cooler than new suburbs without trees."Open the chapter (PDF).
  31. Stelzl, Kudaya, and Fuchs-Hanusch, A GIS-Based and Statistical Approach to Estimate per Capita Water Consumption Based on Different Residential Building Types, Water, vol. 17, 2025, article 1009.
    Open-access, peer-reviewed. Summarizing Schleich and Hillenbrand (2009, Ecological Economics 68:1756-1769), a study of 600 German supply areas: "The results show that larger households consume less water per capita." The paper's own data: a resident of a single-family home uses about 126 to 153 liters a day; a resident of an apartment building 105 to 114.Open the paper.
  32. Costa, Meireles, and Sousa, Understanding residential water demand: insights from a survey in a Mediterranean city, Urban Water Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, 2024, pp. 521 to 537.
    Open-access, peer-reviewed household survey. For the lowest-income group: "the average per capita water consumption is 106 l/capita/day for the households with up to 2 elements, and 60 l/capita/day for the households with 3-4 elements."Open the paper.
  33. City of Moscow, Fiscal Year 2026 Fee Schedule, Schedule J, Public Works.
    Water general facilities charge for a 5/8 inch meter, $2,914; installation of service and meter, 5/8 inch, $1,935.08; water fixed charge per single-family meter, $44.78 a month; residential volume rates $3.33, $3.95, and $6.70 per hundred cubic feet by tier; residential sewer, $58.51 a month flat.Open the FY2026 fee schedule (archived PDF).
  34. Moscow City Code, Title 5, Chapter 4, Water Regulations, sections 5-4-F through 5-4-H.
    Irrigation meters are permitted; "Applicable water general facilities charges and base rates will apply to irrigation meters." Section G: "Deduct meters are not permissible." Section H: the property owner pays the cost of the meter and its installation.Open the chapter (PDF).
  35. Moscow City Council, October 21, 2024, Advanced Water Metering Infrastructure procurement agreement, Evan Timar, Public Utility Manager, from 30:07.
    Meter reading at the time: 3 percent manual, 40 percent touch read, 57 percent drive-by (33:39). Council approved a contract with Zenner for ultrasonic AMI meters read by fixed collectors, with a customer portal in the second phase and about 1,100 meters a year through 2031. Motion carried unanimously.Watch from 30:07.
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Responsible Management of Our Water
Figures and quotations from the Palouse Basin Aquifer Committee record and the September 8, 2026 Moscow City Council meeting. Independent civic project. Not an official City of Moscow or PBAC publication.
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