This is Thomas Atkins' excellent model of the Big
Chino Aquifer, one of the major sources of the Verde
River.

The aquifer is a massive underground water
table, north of Prescott, Arizona. This water table
feeds the upper reaches of the perennial Verde, which
officially begins near the town of Paulden. This part
of the river is spring fed, and although the Verde
basin gathers water from a number of tributaries, the
springs are the only source that flows year-round.
The aquifer is fed by a collection of sources, mostly
reliant on annual rainfall. Many attempts have been
made to describe the workings of this complex system,
but Mr. Atkins' model certainly does it best.

The tube at the top represents rainfall. Using water
bottles, Thomas fills this tube, which sprinkles water
on the model. The water saturates the model's
representative geologic layers, and as the level
rises, water flows out of the tubes to the right,
representing the springs near Paulden.
One of the most interesting aspects of the model is
the way in which it demonstrates the relative height
of the springs in relation to the water table. They
sit at the very top, like the lip of a pitcher.

Thomas's next step is to plug other tubes into the
model, representing various small wells that draw
water from the aquifer. This causes a minimal drop in
the outflow.

Following this, Thomas plugs in a larger hose, which
represents the proposed Big Chino Pipeline. This
pipeline is being pushed by a variety of Yavapai
county politicians, in the interest of future
development. Their reasoning is, with explosive growth
facing all parts of Arizona, we need to secure that
enough water is available for any and all forms of
future development, rather than plan growth around the
available water and conservation practices.
The hose pulls water out, and the springs run dry in a
matter of minutes.

Here is a more detailed description of the model, in
Mr. Atkins' own words:


The black tube at the top represents rain and snow
clouds.

I used two liter bottles to place water into the
system... the rain comes out and fills the Big Chino
Aquifer with water, the Verde River starts to flow
(Far Right)

There are three tubes depicting the Verde River, High
Rate (fat tube), Medium Rate (medium tube) and Low
Rate (little tube).

During the Native American times the river flowed at a
relatively high rate, there was no demand on the water
from the

Big Chino Aquifer, what water fell on the aquifer and
the rim around it percolated into the permeable strata
below and slowly made its way toward the lower end of
the aquifer, the schist uplift and the Verde River.
The model depicts this flow.

Then the Native Americans "disappear" from the scene
and ranchers drop a few shallow well to water their
live stock. (Short wells top left of model.)

This has no appreciable effect on the level of the
aquifer and the flow of the Verde River.

Next farmers in the Big Chino drop a number of
irrigation wells, but still this had no huge effect on
the water level of the aquifer and the flow of the
Verde River. ( A couple of more wells on back side of
model)

Finally the future... because of the fact that the
Upper Verde Cities in Yavapai County have experienced
a huge growth spurt and the demand on the existing

Chino Valley Aquifer has completely outstripped any
chance at Safe Yield and that we are mining the water
in the Prescott AMA at a huge rate these cities have
purchased land and water rights to

Water residing in the Big Chino Aquifer and are
actively planning to sink large production wells into
the aquifer and pipe the water to Chino Valley,
Prescott, Prescott Valley area, this will provide
water for thevery large developments planned near
the Prescott Airport and Prescott Valley and hopefully
resupply some of the water deficit in the Prescott AMA.
Also very large developments are planned on the Big
Chino and large wells will be sunk and pumped for
those needs.

To show this activity, large wells, shown on the model
are activated.

Within a very short time of the first activation the
aquifer starts to be pulled down. It is pulled down
faster and faster as new large production wells are
added to the model!

The Verde River flow moves from high, to medium to low
and then stops altogether!

The birds, fish, trees, the down river towns and
finally the SRP start to complain and grumble.

The aquifer is still being drawn down.... what is the
end result of not maintaining a balanced dynamic
equilibrium?!

The "cast" is asked what might be solutions to the
problem.

The answers are obvious.

If anyone is interested in inviting Thomas Atkins to
bring his model and speak on this topic, he puts on
quite a convincing show. For schools with Earth
Science programs, or lessons on water conservation,
this fits right in.

Here is his contact information, please give him a
call!


Thomas Atkins
309 S. Washington
Prescott, Arizona 86303
tatkins@commspeed.net
tatkins1943@mac.com
928 713 9406



-Ron Harvey
Dad, Artist, Teacher, Conservationist