HUDSONVILLE, Mich. — In Ottawa County, the groundwater is going. In a number of rural areas, it's effectively gone.
On Friday, the county hosted its second annual water quality forum at The Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville, discussing how to best manage its water resources, including Lake Michigan, the Grand River and the Marshall aquifer, the geological formation that supplies many of its residents with water.
"Water is important to everybody," said Joe Bush, water resources commissioner for Ottawa County. "There's only so much of it and we want to make sure we protect it."
In rural areas of the county, many homes draw from wells and do not depend on a municipality for their drinking and non-potable water.
While these wells often pull up groundwater from easily accessible glacial aquifers, these sources are sometimes too shallow from which to safely draw. In that case, the wells must be dug deeper in order to tap into the Marshall aquifer, which is covered by a thick layer of impermeable clay, preventing it from recharging at a fast rate.
As the population of Ottawa County has grown in recent decades and placed more of a strain on the Marshall aquifer, rural wells have begun to run dry.
"It's a counterintuitive problem, when you think about it," said Matthew Chappuies, land use coordinator for Ottawa County's Strategic Impact Department. "We're in Ottawa County. We're surrounded by water."
"To be running out of groundwater is something that a lot of people can't get their head around," he said.
While wells can be dug deeper in order to reach farther into the aquifer, these wells have been shown to draw up higher levels of mineral content, which can affect the smell and taste of water.
Given these limitations, some rural residents have shifted to municipal water, which can be costly in terms of infrastructure.
In Allendale Township, new neighborhoods must be connected to municipal water, which is sourced from Lake Michigan. A similar law exists in Jamestown Township.
"Ottawa County does have a groundwater issue, and it's getting worse," said Chappuies, who mentioned that residents of Allendale, Blendon, Olive and Robinson townships have been most affected by the lowering levels of the Marshall.
At the forum on Friday, Chappuies talked about what the county and its people can do to best steward its water resources.
First, Chappuies said cities and townships should not allow developments to be built on places where their municipal water cannot reach.
Second, residents need to take a "serious look" at how they approach their sprinklers.
"If we're going to stand a chance at preventing water from running out at homes across Ottawa County, then we're going to have to take a serious look at how we think about our lawns," Chappuies said.
Those who rely on well water should perhaps consider watering their lawn less or replace their traditional grass and landscaping with water-conserving alternatives.
"It takes a community," said Chappuies, encouraging those dependent upon municipal water to take part in the shift in behavior, too.
"It's something that we can get a handle on. It's something we can stabilize. But it's going to take work from all of us," he said.
