is the ogallala aquifer, the largest in the world

[48] The local non-profit organization Ogallala Commons, named for the aquifer itself, which not only collaborates and supports the local communicates, also works to conserve the Ogallala Aquifer and the surrounding area. Data It is one of the world's largest aquifers and covers an area in portions of eight states, which include Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico . If the measure fails, pressure will increase on state authorities to impose restrictions. (1988). By 1977 one of the poorest farming regions in the country had been transformed into one of the wealthiest, raising much of the nations agricultural exports and fattening 40 percent of its grain-fed beef. In Kansas in 1950, irrigated cropland covered 250,000 acres (100,000ha); with the use of center-pivot irrigation, nearly three million acres of land were irrigated. Once depleted, the aquifer will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall. If spread across the U.S. the aquifer would cover all 50 states with 1.5 feet of water, If drained, it would take more than 6,000 years to refill naturally, More than 90 percent of the water pumped is used to irrigate crops, $20 billion a year in foodand fiber depend on the aquifer. formation of shale and sandstone called the Dockum group overlies the redbed. The USGS has performed several studies of the aquifer, to determine what is coming in (groundwater recharge from the surface), what is leaving (water pumped out and baseflow to streams), and what the net changes in storage are (rise, fall or no change). Rural people and lands are being exploited and then blamed for the conditions of their own marginality. Nor should Congress propose to eliminate agricultural subsidies, as some environmental organizations and free-market advocates have proposed. Funk aims to capture every bit of the 18 inches of precipitation that fall on southwestern Kansas. As it can be observed, the majority of irrigated fields were It occupies an area of 174,000 square miles, spreading across 8 American Great Plains States, according to the US Geological Survey. This current report seeks to evaluate the perceptions of water quality. The Declining Ogallala Aquifer and the Future Role of - ScienceDirect Ochsner, T, Fiebrich, C and Neel, C. 2014. These include the two primary groundwater systems in the western United States: Californias Central Valley aquifer and the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies Americas heartlands from South Dakota to Texas. The deposition of aquifer material dates back two to six million years, from the late Miocene to early Pliocene ages when the southern Rocky Mountains were still tectonically active. We need guidelines to make sure that sustainably managed groundwater is distributed in transparent, effective, and equitable ways. The Ogallala Aquifer: When will the wells run dry? What then? The Ogallala Aquifer is a shallow water table aquifer. Areas like the Texas Panhandle and southwestern Kansas have created Over the next 20 years the High Plains turned from brown to green. Oklahoma Mesonet. Biofuels are the latest enticement to grow corn, which garners higher profits but requires more water than most other crops. Failures of policy, democracy, and perception turn into an environmental calamity. As one of the world's largest aquifers, it underlies an area of approximately 174,000 sq mi (450,000 km 2) in portions of eight states (South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). Our research finds that subsidies put farmers on a treadmill, working harder to produce more while draining the resource that supports their livelihood. Rainfall in most of the Texas High Plains is minimal, evaporation is high, and infiltration rates are slow. Each behaves as if it has a unique personality. But the Wests major aquifers are in trouble, too. The signs are subtle but unequivocal: dry riverbeds, fields of sand, the sound of irrigation motors straining to pump from dwindling aquifers. 2013. The West's Unprecedented Water Crisis Is Worsening - The Atlantic [13] Many farmers in the Texas High Plains, which rely particularly on groundwater, are now turning away from irrigated agriculture as pumping costs have risen and as they have become aware of the hazards of overpumping.[14]. and conservation [10]. Streamlined operations allow them to produce significantly greater yield using roughly the same amount of water needed four decades ago. Water users in the southern High Plains Groundwater loss is a generational test of our ability to come together around shared problems. the southern High Plains (Figure 1). 2013. Many independent Plains farmers scrape by, break even, or lose money to grow irrigated crops. These GCDs regulate well spacing The Ogallala Aquifer (OA), the largest freshwater aquifer in the world, is a main source of agricultural and public water supplies that has sustained economic development in the High Plains region of the United States for more than 80 years. Z. Ogallala Aquifer - Wikipedia Now it, and a way of life, are being drained away. In addition, the new center pivot systems have nozzles at a lower elevation, According to the USDA formations, including the Dakota Sandstone and Morrison Formation, also are found Learn the best practices for calibrating a low-pressure ground sprayer boom-mounted nozzle for the best results when applying pesticides. Smith, Duane and Associates. and generally connected to surface water resources, are limited. Corporate profiteering is a major driver of depletion. Why Is the Ogallala Aquifer So Important? Earth.com This is about PDF The Ogallala Aquifer, the largest underground water resource for the U The cause is obvious, says Mark Rude, executive director of the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District: overuse. When one area goes dry, such businesses just move to another, while local residents are left to face the growing bills. Amending federal farm credit rates could also slow the treadmill. To farm without groundwater, Funk has changed some of his methods. in Northwestern Oklahoma. Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Saving the Ogallala Aquifer". Today, only those who own at least 40 acres of land or substantial water rights can vote on aquifer policy, which means the people allowed to decide the fate of the Ogallala Aquifer include the same producers and corporations that reap the most short-term benefits from draining it. Can it be conserved? And scientists say it will take natural processes 6,000 years to refill the reservoir. Others point to farmers, since irrigation accounts for 90% of Ogallala groundwater withdrawals. and wheat in 2012 was more than 106,000 and 65,000 acres, respectively. Or they can prompt us to rethink our relationship to one another and to the irreplaceable natural resources that we share. [28][29] [49][50][51], Eleven farmers in 2013 participated in the conservation program, with some planting in dry earth, rather than watered soil. When Spanish conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado came through in 1541 looking for the gold cities of Cibola, he marched his iron-clad men to the brink of exhaustion, never knowing that water to quench their near-maddening thirst lay mere yards beneath their boots. At first glance, farmers on the Plains appear to be doing well in 2020. Estimating Groundwater Recharge Using the These losses are papered over by federal farm subsidies, crop insurance programs, and bank loans, aid that compels farmers to double down on wasteful practices. one out of every six years having received less than 16 inches of rainfall during Yet another challenge facing the district is that higher prices for crops[when?] State and federal geologists, who had been studying where all that water was coming from, announced grim findings. This is the breadbasket of Americathe region that supplies at least one fifth of the total annual U.S. agricultural harvest. In our view, what the Ogallala Aquifer region really needs is policy change. The average depth is two hundred-feet, however, both the thickest and the most extensive areas are in Nebraska. Authorities should establish benchmarks for reductions in groundwater use and be prepared to impose mandatory restrictions if those are not met. Houston, Natalie A., et al. A Texas law granting landowners unrestricted rights to the water beneath their property makes it possible for Pickens to sell groundwater from his 24,000-acre Mesa Vista Ranch in the Texas panhandle to metropolises as far away as Dallas and El Paso. It accounts for 15% of all groundwater withdrawals in the conterminous United States ( Lovelace et al. Since major groundwater pumping began in the late 1940s, overdraft from the High Plains Aquifer has amounted to 332,000,000 acre-feet (410km3), 85% of the volume of Lake Erie. Growing larger amounts floods the market, further reducing crop prices and farm incomes. On a hydrographic map, the Ogallala is a Rorschach inkblot that some describe as the shape of a mushroom, others the South American continent. Participating farmers grow corn with just over half of the water that they would normally require to irrigate the fields, or they plant several weeks later than customary. Together, these dynamics form one of the great groundwater swindles of our time. just south of the Oklahoma border. Luckey, Richard R. and Osborn, Noel I. "[23], Since the 1940s, pumping from the Ogallala has drawn the aquifer down by more than 300 feet (90m) in some areas. in irrigated areas around Guymon, OK. The proposed route of the pipeline crosses the eastern part of the Nebraska Sandhills; opponents of the route cite the risk to the Ogallala Aquifer posed by the possibility of contamination from spilled dilute bitumen. [8][9] In that respect, the process is similar to those currently prevailing in other modern rivers of the area, such as the Kansas River and its tributaries. Starting as hundreds of feet of silt, clay, and gravel eroded from the Rocky Mountains and laid down by streams millions of years ago, rainfall during this time produced an underground lake the size of Lake Huron. The solution is obvious: We cannot keep taking more water out of aquifers than can be naturally replaced. The water is between 30 and 100 meters below ground, and the amount of water in the aquifer varies greatly from region to region. [25], During the 1990s, the aquifer held some three billion acre-feet of groundwater used for crop irrigation as well as drinking water in urban areas. New Demands The sensors are calibrated to measure leaf temperatures, allowing the plants themselves to tell computer-controlled irrigation equipment when they are thirsty. Lloyd aquifer. Ted Turner's Resource Grab Continues - ABC News creeks (mainly the Beaver River and the upper Cimarron River) can have periods of Some consequences of aquifer loss are already visible in western Kansas, where I grew up and where my family has farmed for generations. than evaporation and far less than the water requirement of many agricultural crops. List of aquifers - Wikipedia These large declines can be attributed The southern High Plains has an arid/semi-arid climate with rainfall amounts less Yet even as these innovations move from experimental plots to production fields, improvements in efficiency may be offset by new demands on groundwater. Ogallala Aquifer | Encyclopedia.com Researchers are designing equipment that uses lasers to measure the turbulence caused by heat waves above crops. 2013. Engineers have installed 16 wireless infrared sensors on the arm of a center-pivot system used to irrigate cotton in a research plot. If they irrigate less or not at all in years with low market prices, rules could allow more irrigation in better years. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world's largest, lying beneath the U.S. states of South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. From the uplands to the west, rivers and streams cut channels in a generally west to east or southeast direction. Stretching from South These will be posted on the Internet, giving farmers information they can use to adjust their irrigation to the needs of their crops. They are grappling with how to maintain successful agricultural operations while relying on less and less water, an issue that water users throughout the region, and the world, must eventually face, Rude says. have experienced significant declines in water levels, and consequently, increases In addition, as the Ogallala level decline and water is being extracted from If the aquifer goes dry, more than $20 billion worth of food and fiber will vanish from the worlds markets. Some growers are joining Funk in moving to dryland farminggrowing wheat and other crops that do not require irrigation. But challenges remain, including the preference of powerful agribusiness interests to continue pumping what water is left. Similar conversations are under way across the American West, as an unprecedented water crisis comes into sharp focus. The decline in the Ogallal water level has created numerous challenges for irrigated losses of water storage in parts of the Ogallala aquifer. (sprinkler) irrigation. The Ogallala is the leading geologic formation in what is known as the High Plains Aquifer System. [46][47], Since 2010, the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, which encompasses eight counties north of Amarillo, including Moore and Dallam Counties, has offered a $300,000 annual demonstration project to conserve water that farmers pump from the Ogallala Aquifer. Big industries, their shell companies, and distant investors have displaced many family farms here over the past three decades. The water flowing underneath is as good as gold for farmers in the region, serving as a lifeline in years when the drought and Texas . HIGH PLAINS - The High Plains aquifer (which includes the Ogallala aquifer) underlies parts of eight States and has been . Ogallala Aquifer-Lifeblood of the High plains The major irrigated crops are grain corn and wheat, Figure 3. But those figures hide massive government payments to farmers. Well get to sustainability one way or another, but it may be sustaining an economy without the Ogallala Aquifer.. In practice, it caused the opposite result. We may not make the aquifer sustainable, but we may give it another 100 years.. [20] One approach to reducing the amount of groundwater used is to employ treated recycled water for irrigation; another approach is to change to crops that require less water, such as sunflowers.[21]. Some of the largest The water level is particularly on the decline in Texas and New Mexico. It underlies nearly 122 million acres of land, used primarily for agriculture, [Deep knowledge, daily. of their efforts is the development of the Panhandle Regional Water Plan in collaboration Depositional facies of the Miocene-Pliocene Ogallala Formation, northwestern Texas and eastern New Mexico. Some observers blame this situation on periodic drought. [23] In the United States, the biggest users of water from aquifers include agricultural irrigation and oil and coal extraction. Future of food production hinges on water - Axios Government payments create a vicious cycle of overproduction that intensifies water use. The number of irrigation wells in West Texas alone exploded from 1,166 in 1937 to more than 66,000 in 1971. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest aquifer in the United States. Most dry-area aquifers are vanishing. Texas farmers worry Ogallala Aquifer is running dry. You should too. Farmers are depleting the Ogallala Aquifer because the government pays about 306,000 acre-feet by 2060. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. The Ogallala Aquifer, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is a vast yet shallow underground water table aquifer located beneath the Great Plains in the United States. "TransCanada Proposes Second Oil Pipeline". Other projects aim to bring high tech down home. The Ogallala aquifer in this region has a very low recharge rate; resulting in very Ogallala Water CAP Project - New Mexico State University Logan Layden, "If you Want to Build a New Lake in Oklahoma, Forget History", March 28, 2013, StateImpact Oklahoma. The drought and storms led to one of the largest mass migrations in a short period of time in US history. Industrial-scale extraction of the aquifer did not begin until after World War II. M. D. Smolen, Aaron Mittelstet, and Bekki Harjo (2012) Whose Water Is It Anyway? counties overlying the Ogallala aquifer. In addition to widely recognized environmental consequences, groundwater depletion also adversely impacts the long-term sustainability of groundwater supplies to help meet the nations water needs. U.S Geological Service Fact Sheet 081-00. [42], Early in his presidency, U.S President Donald Trump overturned U.S. President Barack Obama's decision by signing executive memos in support of the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2017. Should I Buy (or Retain) Stockers to Graze Wheat Pasture? U.S Geological Service Report. decreased due to not meeting the full crop water requirement or planting a smaller Because of this, the rivers receive groundwater flow (baseflow), carrying it out of the region rather than recharging the aquifer. Starting as hundreds of feet of silt, clay, and gravel eroded from the Rocky Mountains and laid down by streams millions of years ago, rainfall during this time produced an underground lake the size of Lake Huron. Hence, it is not surprising that the largest decline in groundwater has been experienced [4] Today about 27% of the irrigated land in the entire United States lies over the aquifer, which yields about 30% of the ground water used for irrigation in the United States. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world's largest fresh groundwater resources. A return to grasslands could be a potential source of income, says Amy Hardberger, an attorney with the EDF in Austin, Tex. Only after World War II, when center pivot irrigation became available, was the land mass of the High Plains aquifer system transformed into one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the world. Where Is The Ogallala Aquifer? - WorldAtlas Like Funk, they are starting to make plans for a time when the Ogallala will not meet their economic needs. Gurdak, J. J, McMahon, P. B, Dennehy, K, Qi, S. L. (2009). 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. It underlies 175,000 square miles in eight states. Local rivers and are more than 250 million years old. Hart, D. L., Hoffman, G. L. and Goemaat, R. L. 1976. "[20], The center-pivot irrigation system is considered to be a highly efficient system which helps conserve water. Info designed to educate homeowners on the combined impact of wind speed and water pressure on sprinkler irrigation systems. Meeting that goal will require better policy, public action, personal responsibility, and political leadership. Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer. PDF Nebraska Irrigation Fact Sheet - University of Nebraska-Lincoln Ogallala aquifer: Could critical water source run dry? These steps may help prevent an environmental calamity in the American West. In other areas, such as parts of eastern and central Nebraska and of the region south of Lubbock, Texas, water levels have risen since 1980. Figure 1. The laser equipment will eventually estimate daily evapotranspiration rates on a regional scale. Crop Circles in Kansas - NASA Earth Observatory Approximately Several rivers, such as the Platte, run below the water level of the aquifer. Given the thin margins of farming and longstanding political realities, federal support is simply part of modern production agriculture. That is, depletion condenses many of Americas problems into a single drama. The Ogallala is recharged primarily by rainwater, but only about one inch of precipitation actually reaches the aquifer annually. Magothy aquifer - largest of Long Island's aquifers. [22], The depletion between 2001 and 2008, inclusive, is about 32% of the cumulative depletion during the entire 20th century. In Cimarron and western Texas counties, a younger are among the world's most unique ecosystems, and today are one of the least known and underappreciated resources to the High Plains' population. (1950s) to 2013. 1976. 2014. way to grow crops even during drought; however, larger and deeper wells were required As mentioned before, Texas County shows largest declines in water levels, As the largest freshwater aquifer in North America, and one of the largest in the world, the Ogallala supports approximately 30% of all crop and animal production in the United States (Dennehy 2000). declines in water levels across the entire aquifer have happened in Texas Panhandle Today the Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted at an annual volume equivalent to 18 Colorado Rivers. The irrigation expansion and increased pumping resulted in considerable in pumping costs. It's one of the most productive sources of groundwater for . Got to, he says. Irrigating wheat in western Kansas with mobile drip saves 30-60% compared to conventional sprinkler irrigation. In Garden City, however, the severity of their circumstances is already forcing farmers to take action. Plans to double the number of ethanol production facilities in the High Plains region are driving farmers to increase corn production despite already scarce groundwater. [10] The depth of the water below the surface of the land ranges from almost 400 feet (120m) in parts of the north to between 100 and 200 feet (30 and 61m) throughout much of the south. been drilled into the Ogallala aquifer. Framed by immense skies now blue, now scarlet-streaked, this 800-mile expanse of agriculture looks like it could go on forever. The success of large-scale farming in areas that do not have adequate precipitation and do not always have perennial surface water for diversion has depended heavily on pumping groundwater for irrigation. This article was originally published with the title "Saving the Ogallala Aquifer" in SA Special Editions 19, 1s, 32-39 (March 2009), doi:10.1038/scientificamericanearth0309-32, Andrea Thompson, Jeffery DelViscio and Elah Feder. The Ogallala, also known as the High Plains Aquifer, is one of the largest underground freshwater sources in the world. While these initiatives are important, they havent stemmed the aquifers decline. The Environmental Impact Statement concluded that the project posed little threat of "adverse environmental impacts",[30][38] the report was drafted by Cardno Entrix, a company that assisted both the Department of State and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in preparing environmental impact statements for other proposed TransCanada projects. irrigation systems and irrigated acres [11]. We hope so, he says. The state of Kansas set up groundwater management districts to allow communities in regions of heavy water use to decide their own futures. The demand for the water outstrips its replenishment. Gustavson, T. C, Winkler, D. A. Groundwater level has dropped 150 feet or more, forcing many farmers to abandon their wells. Grain sorghum Groundwater depletion is a policy choice made by federal, state and local officials. [12] Human and natural processes over the past 60 to 70 years, including irrigation density, climate, and nitrogen applications, have caused higher concentrations of contaminants including nitrates. [48], .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}365926N 1012652W / 36.99056N 101.44778W / 36.99056; -101.44778, such as review articles, monographs, or textbooks. May 01, 2020 Working to help conserve the Ogallala Aquifer, Kansas State University's mobile drip system is retrofitted to existing center pivot irrigation systems, monitored and managed by mobile phone. The contradictions in these federal programs reflect Americas ambivalence about the Ogallala Aquifer. Stephen Lauer and Vivian Aranda-Hughes, former doctoral students at Kansas State University, contributed to several of the studies cited in this article. [20] In some places in the Texas Panhandle, the water table has been drained (dewatered). Saving the Ogallala Aquifer, supporting farmers - Morning Ag Clips
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