[runarberg]

There is data to go by that supports that these systems are highly dynamic and human activity around them do feed back into the system irreversibly effecting them. There is a hot spring 10km from where I lived called Gunnuhver. It was a tiny little mud pool that steamed a little, but it was fun watching the mud boil. In 2006 they raised a giant (and really ugly) power plant close by. Now the mud pool is unrecognizable from before. It is massive, it is hard to see the mud under the amount of steam it releases. It is a common believe that the geothermal power plant is the direct contributor to this change.

However there are ways to mitigate the uncertainty. You can start small, observe, and if still stable, expand. I believe that is how most new geothermal plants are done today in Iceland.