Understanding the connection between surface water, groundwater and the environment with Caitlin Cornwall

Photo: Caitlin Cornwall at Sonoma Creek next to one of Sonoma Ecology Center’s monitoring stations

When Caitlin Cornwall walks along Sonoma Creek and observes the native plant habitat, listens to the birdsong in the air and watches the current rippling downstream, she knows that the health of the ecosystem depends on having a sustainable groundwater supply below the surface. Caitlin, through her work as a project manager at Sonoma Ecology Center, has been monitoring the creek for a long time and understands the complex relationship between water underground and what flows above.

Sonoma Ecology Center monitors stream flow along Sonoma Creek through an agreement with the Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency. In “gaining reaches,” the water that flows in a creek comes from underground, while in “losing reaches” the stream filters water down through the creek bed and into the aquifer. Sonoma Ecology Center biologists want to better understand which areas are gaining reaches and which are losing reaches, to prioritize their habitat restoration efforts. The data they collect also helps the GSA understand where monitoring wells should be placed for the greatest benefit, and potentially identify locations for aquifer recharge projects.

“We need to remember that groundwater is a shared resource, and now we need to use it differently than we have in the past,” Caitlin said. “The supply is less, and the demand is greater. The only way to have dependable groundwater resources is to shift how we use it; it’s a scarce resource but it wasn’t always that way.”

To ensure that groundwater is sustainably managed, Sonoma Ecology Center wants to know more about water levels at various locations and times of year. Landowners can help by volunteering to monitor their wells on their own land, Caitlin said. “Groundwater is a shared community resource. We need to fill the gaps in information so that all of us know how much is stored in our aquifer at different times around the basin.”

“…The only way to have dependable groundwater resources is to shift how we use it; it’s a scarce resource but it wasn’t always that way.”

Caitlin Cornwall

Caitlin said she thinks taking an historical perspective on the aquifer is important. While the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and the local GSAs were formed in response to drought over the last 10 years, the problems of groundwater depletion are nothing new in the region. Groundwater is harder to reach than it used to be, not just compared with decades ago but dating back to 1823 when Europeans introduced irrigation farming into the region.

Caitlin is a proponent of managing a sustainable water supply by creating or recreating low flat places that slow the flow of surface water, so it can sink or seep into the ground and naturally recharge aquifers. Referring to the controversial redevelopment likely to occur around Hanna Center and at the Sonoma Developmental Center, Caitlin said there is an opportunity for an upside, where […]

Full article: sonomavalleygroundwater.org