When the milkshake runs low: what groundwater can tell us about future droughts
Imagine you are sharing a chocolate milkshake with ten of your best friends. You all have a straw in the glass. As the milkshake gets lower you want to make sure everyone has enough to go around, so there is a lot of discussion and collaboration to ensure no one person sucks the glass dry. Now, picture the glass is a river and the milkshake is water. That is how water resources management works in the Potomac River basin. There is collaboration and agreements (and a lot of data and science) in place to ensure everyone with a straw in the river has water, even during a drought. After all, this milkshake *ahem* river must satisfy the 5 million people that live in the Washington Metropolitan Area.
To continue that milkshake analogy… the milkshake is so good, everyone wants more. Ideally, deliveries keep coming in to refill the glass; that’s rain. But sometimes, the deliveries slow down or stop, and the building gets hotter, making what’s left disappear faster. That’s a drought. You know there is more milkshake reserved somewhere in the building, but you’re not sure if it’s right next door or 13 floors down with a slow, rusty elevator. How long will it take to get everyone their milkshake? They’re thirsty. In this scenario, the reserve milkshake is groundwater that will help replenish the river, come out of our taps, and support the river’s natural ecosystem. How long does it take for groundwater to become surface water? This is another piece of the water resources management puzzle.
Understanding the connection between groundwater and surface water is vital to water resources management. A recent study led by staff from ICPRB’s Section for Cooperative Water Supply Operations on the Potomac (CO-OP) and 2024 Yale Conservation Scholar and ICPRB intern AJ Villaruel explored groundwater trends (is the reserve milkshake getting fuller, emptier, or staying the same over time?) and the time-lagged relationship between groundwater and surface water (if our milkshake is low today, how long will that affect our milkshake in the future?).
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