Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra
Tammy's views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy's neighbors, Earl Fisher, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Obama, Tony Hyde, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia's dog, or Claudia Eagle's Cats. This Tammy's Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she won't be bullied by anyone.

Last week I talked about California wanting Oregon's Columbian river water. This week I will talk about the hidden aquifers under Oregon's cascades. Oregon's Steelhead Falls on the Deschutes River, is one of several rivers that runs at full capacity even in the fall because it is fed by the hidden reservoir under the Cascades. At one time people believed that the most valuable resource in the national forests on the Oregon Cascades was timber and recreational activities. But now there is an even more valuable commodity that no one can see, and many people do not realize that the cascades have a treasure beneath the mountains and that is water.

Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University have figured out and kept quiet that the Cascades in Oregon and Northern California contain an enormous underground lake equal to the biggest man-made reservoirs in the country. The underground reservoir stores approximately 7 years' worth of Oregon's rain and snow. This underground water system is a gold mine and if current predictions of drought and climate change along with the increase of human populations the water will be a precious resource.

The underground storage is comprised of young volcanic rock which is about a million years old. The rock has many fissures and cracks that collect water and the young rock acts like a sponge and sucks up all the moisture it can. The unique geological formation makes it one of the most unique systems in the world and one of the largest underground water reservoirs in the world on a mountainous area.

Water seeps steadily from the underground reservoir which dumps into many streams and into the Willamette River while many of the streams in Oregon dry up in the summer because they depend on snow melt for their water flow.

The problem with others knowing about Oregon's underground water system other states in the west that have been hit by drought and industry that depends on huge amounts of water have  their eye on Oregon's gem. Scientists have begun studies on the effect to the underground water system if other states in the future try and want to tap in on the reservoir.

Many scientists believe that the system holds as much or more than the man-made lake Meade. With the drought that has drained Lake Meade Oregon's reservoir still remains clear full. Scientists have found water spilling from large springs that is not known to only a handful of people. One spring pours out a 1 percent of the summer volume of the Willamette River, 43 million gallons a day, enough to supply half of Portland's year-round water requirements.

As climate change increases and other States rivers dry up, Oregon's many rivers will continue to flow freely even if their flow decreases because of the reduction of snow pack or rain they will still have enough water to  support healthy rivers.

I believe that Oregon must protect this valuable resource for Oregon's people and not allow any other state or corporation to tap into this system no matter how bad  the climate changes or how long the duration of their droughts last. Oregon's underground aquifer will be the saving grace for Oregon.