The Water Beneath Our Feet ...
The DNR says it's finishing a seventy-year-old groundwater study. Others wonder whether Missouri is quietly preparing for a very different future.
Across northern Missouri, drilling rigs have become a familiar sight. Helicopters equipped with sophisticated sensors have traced invisible grids across farmland. Geologists kneel over fresh core samples, studying layers of rock and clay that have rested undisturbed since long before the first settlers crossed this state. Beneath our feet, a hidden world is slowly being mapped in remarkable detail.
As an investigator, I've learned that timing matters. Sometimes it matters more than anything else.
I read an article online that listed a phone number that led me to Scott Kaden, Chief of the Groundwater Section for the Missouri Geological Survey with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. If anyone could explain what was happening beneath Missouri's farmland, it is him. I called Scott & we spoke for over 16 minutes . By the time our conversation ended, it had become abundantly clear that Mr. Kaden wanted to put one rumor to rest.
The DNR's groundwater mapping project, he insisted, has nothing to do with the recent interest in constructing massive data centers across Missouri.
According to Kaden, today's work is simply the continuation of a scientific effort that began during the 1950s. Missouri has been collecting groundwater information for generations, he explained. Modern technology (and modern funding) is finally allowing the state to fill in the gaps in data that earlier generations couldn't.
His explanation was detailed, thoughtful and entirely plausible. In fact, much of it makes perfect sense.
Every state should understand the water beneath its soil. Farmers need dependable wells. Families building new homes deserve to know where groundwater can be found. Cities need reliable municipal supplies. Irrigation systems don't build themselves, and nobody enjoys paying to drill a dry well.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is working with a contractor named Aqua Geo Frameworks, one of the country's leading hydrogeologic consulting firms, to help produce extraordinarily detailed maps of Missouri's underground aquifers. Using airborne electromagnetic technology, geological modeling, drilling records, and extensive field sampling, the project seeks answers to questions that scientists have pursued for decades.
Where is the groundwater & how much exists? How deep are the aquifers & how are they connected? What is the quality of the water?
Once completed, these maps become public information, available to farmers, engineers, municipalities, developers, and anyone else with an interest in Missouri's groundwater resources. That includes companies evaluating locations for large industrial projects. When I raised that point with Kaden, he didn't dispute it. Public data, he explained, is exactly that, public. Anyone can access it.
That answer naturally led to other questions.
( These questions & answers are paraphrased )
Q: Suppose a company wanted to construct a massive data center requiring enormous quantities of cooling water. Could it drill into Missouri's aquifer?
A: According to Kaden, yes.
Q: Would the state charge the data centers for pumping groundwater from the aquifer?
A: According to Kaden, no. Nobody pays for well water, irrigation, or water accessed for any reason, directly from the aquifer
Q: Would those withdrawals themselves be metered by the Department of Natural Resources?
A: Again, no.
Q: I asked Kaden about how wastewater discharge from data centers would be handled ?
A: Kaden explained that issues involving wastewater discharge fall under another division of the DNR. He also pointed out that many modern data centers recycle water extensively or use cooling technologies that produce little or no wastewater discharge.
Those answers are part of the public record now. So are the questions they leave behind.
To be fair, this investigation has uncovered no evidence that Missouri's groundwater mapping project was initiated to support data center development.
Kaden was unequivocal on that point, and the state's long history of groundwater research lends credibility to his explanation that today's work is the continuation of decades of scientific study.
Missouri is experiencing unprecedented interest from industries whose operations depend upon reliable, long-term water supplies. At the very same moment, the state is assembling the most comprehensive picture of its underground water resources in its history.
Perhaps those two developments are entirely unrelated and they are simply occurring at the same time. Or, perhaps the truth lies somewhere between those two possibilities.
For generations, the aquifer beneath northern Missouri has quietly sustained farms, families, livestock, and small towns. Few people ever thought about it because they never had to.
As this investigation continues, we'll examine Missouri's groundwater laws, industrial water use, private property rights, and the policies that will determine who benefits most from one of the state's most valuable natural resources.
Next: Who Owns Missouri's Groundwater? We examine the laws governing aquifer withdrawals, private property rights, and whether Missouri's legal framework is prepared for a new era of high-volume industrial water demand.
Regards Fellow Maconites,
R. Dominique - Editor In Chief -
So where did the grant money & the federal funds come from that are financing this mapping project?