Relationship between Pumping and Depletion

When we first started trying to understand the depletion information that the DNR talked about we had to do so blindly.  The DNR refused to talk about depletion and the local NRD had no understanding of how the depletion was calculated and didn't care.

These are our initial graphs that showed that the relationship between pumping and depletion to the stream flow is weak.  We have since learned how the Model determines the depletion, however we are still unable to access any of the raw data from the DNR and the NRD doesn't care to access the data.  The NRD prefers to make its decisions based on summaries the DNR provides.  Very few, if any, of the NRD board has any understanding of how the Model computes depletion to the stream. 

In short, what we pump this year has almost no relationship to the stream flow level in the same year.  The stream flow is affected by many things, (pumping, precipitation, rate of precipitation, distance from stream, recharge from irrigation, location of the well, etc).  Pumping has  little direct relationship to depletion.  That is shown in these charts.  Pumping is just one element in a complex system.  And it is not even the largest element.

Unfortunately, policy is now being put in place that will attempt to adjust one variable (pumping) to compensate for all of the other variables.  This is next to impossible but it is what is being attempted.  These charts show the futility of the idea that by increasing or decreasing pumping year to year that we can maintain a constant stream flow.