Getting Ready for Breakfast: Get to Know Your Aquifer 

The Forum is thrilled to see nearly 100 people already signed up for the 2026 H2O Breakfast coming up next month on March 31, 2026 at the CenterPlace in Spokane Valley, WA!

Focused on water conservation and aquifer protection, the breakfast will be a classic Forum event that stretches our thinking and stimulates critically needed dialogues. In addition to Lisa Seales of the Deschutes River Conservancy for the keynote talk, John Porcello of GSI Water Solutions is on deck to fill us in on what the data is telling us about our aquifer. Porcello has developed a numerical groundwater flow model being used for a variety of groundwater resource and wellfield needs in his work with the Forum’s partners and generous sponsors, the Idaho Washington Aquifer Collaborative (IWAC), the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board (SAJB), and City of Spokane.

To help you get ready for the breakfast, we would like to provide a little backstory on the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) Aquifer. That is, the 370-square miles of gravels, cobbles, and boulders beneath our feet that stores and provides groundwater in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.

In 1978, the SVRP aquifer was designated as a sole source aquifer by the EPA, helping to increase public awareness for protection of this precious resource that today provides drinking water to more than half a million people and counting in Spokane and Kootenai Counties.

To learn more about the SVRP Aquifer, its dynamic history, and unique features, click through to the most recent edition of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer Atlas.

If you would like to find out more about how you can be a part of the 2026 H2O Breakfast, visit spokaneriver.net. We hope to see you there!