The title of the report presented to the Johnson County Board of Supervisors during its work session on Wednesday was very technical: “Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the Silurian Aquifer, Eastern Iowa (2020–2045).” That was appropriate given the complex nature of its subject matter. But the report’s ultimate message about the groundwater supply much of the county relies on was summed up in four words by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Jude Thomas.
“It’s a finite resource,” she told the supervisors.
Thomas is the section chief for Groundwater and Geophysics in the USGS Central Midwest Water Science Center. The research for the aquifer study began in 2022, and follows a 2006 version of the study that modeled aquifer activity from 2006 to 2022. Thomas was at the work session on Wednesday to provide the supervisors with an overview of the report’s findings…