With a liquid treasure below their feet and a global market eager for their products, farmers here and across the region have made a Faustian bargain—giving up long-term conservation for short-term gain. Like coal or natural gas, groundwater is a valuable resource. The challenge is to stretch the life of the aquifer to benefit future generations of farmers and those who depend on their products.
In Garden City, however, the severity of their circumstances is already forcing farmers to take action. 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. Tapping the Aquifer On a hydrographic map, the Ogallala is a Rorschach inkblot that some describe as the shape of a mushroom, others the South American continent.
Millions of years ago, when the southern Rocky Mountains were still spewing lava, rivers and streams cut channels that carried stony pieces of the mountains eastward. Sediment eventually covered the area and filled in the ancient channels, creating vast plains.
The water that permeates the buried gravel is mostly from the vanished rivers. It has been down there for at least three million years, percolating slowly in a saturated gravel bed that varies from more than 1, feet thick in the North to a few feet in the Southwest. Until recently, most of the region had no permanent settlements. Native American tribes who used the open plains for seasonal hunting retreated to river valleys to pitch their tents.
When Spanish conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado came through in 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.
Similarly, cattle drives in the s and s collapsed in a perfect storm of drought, overgrazing and falling meat prices. And early attempts at farming were plagued by soil erosion and cycles of drought that culminated in the s Dust Bowl. Industrial-scale extraction of the aquifer did not begin until after World War II. Diesel-powered pumps replaced windmills, increasing output from a few gallons a minute to hundreds. Over the next 20 years the High Plains turned from brown to green.
The number of irrigation wells in West Texas alone exploded from 1, in to more than 66, in But the miracle of new pumping technology was taking its toll below the prairie. By water levels had dropped by an average of nearly 10 feet throughout the region. In the central and southern parts of the High Plains some declines exceeded feet. Concerned public officials turned to the U. Geological Survey, which has studied the aquifer since the early s.
What they found was alarming: yearly groundwater withdrawals quintupled between and In some places farmers were withdrawing four to six feet a year, while nature was putting back half an inch. And while there is value in allowing farmers to voluntarily take the reins in conserving the Ogallala, it is clear that they are not jumping at the opportunity to do so.
The farmers themselves have commented that it is going to take a whole change of culture in the region to see the results that the Kansas legislature envisioned from the LEMA program—an uphill battle that certainly will not happen overnight. Nebraska is at least seeing some more substantial results from their hardline policies, which may be the direction the High Plains states need to take to avoid a major crisis.
While the Ogallala may not be able to be completely saved at this point, it is certainly worth preserving for as long as possible, and states should not hold back in using their enforcement powers to do so. Image: A storm rolls over a field of summer wheat on the High Plains in Kansas. Wikipedia user James Watkins , Creative Commons. Brian Jacobs et al.
Edwin Gutentag et al. Geological Surv. Water Source , Scientific Am. Joshua Perkin et al. Turner ed. Karen Dillon, Ogallala water continues to pour onto farm fields despite decades of dire forecasts , Lawrence J. State U. Ogallala Aquifer , Tex. Ogallala Aquifer Intiative, U. Background Image : Map of the Ogallala Aquifer identifying areas of depletion. Addressing Depletion at the State Level The High Plains states are accustomed to periods of water shortages, and, accordingly, these states have all established the statutory or regulatory power to strictly control groundwater use.
Addressing Depletion at the Federal Level Interstate compacts—created and enforced through federal law—have played a critical role in driving state efforts to curtail groundwater use. Sources Brian Jacobs et al. Hill v. Griggs has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the U. A slow-moving crisis threatens the U. But farmers are pulling water out of the Ogallala faster than rain and snow can recharge it.
Between and they drained some 89 trillion gallons from the aquifer — equivalent to two-thirds of Lake Erie. Depletion is threatening drinking water supplies and undermining local communities already struggling with the COVID pandemic , the opioid crisis , hospital closures , soaring farm losses and rising suicide rates.
Some observers blame this situation on periodic drought. But our research, which focuses on social and legal aspects of water use in agricultural communities, shows that farmers are draining the Ogallala because state and federal policies encourage them to do it.
At first glance, farmers on the Plains appear to be doing well in Crop production increased this year. Corn, the largest crop in the U. But those figures hide massive government payments to farmers. This sum includes money for lost exports from escalating trade wars, as well as COVIDrelated relief payments. Corn prices were too low to cover the cost of growing it this year, with federal subsidies making up the difference.
Our research finds that subsidies put farmers on a treadmill , working harder to produce more while draining the resource that supports their livelihood.
Government payments create a vicious cycle of overproduction that intensifies water use. Increased salinity may be associated with evaporative concentration of groundwater in saline playa lakes in the southern portion of the aquifer, up flow of more saline groundwater from the underlying Dockum Aquifer and other sources.
The availability of this water is critical to the economy of the region, as approximately 95 percent of groundwater pumped is used for irrigated agriculture. Throughout much of the aquifer, groundwater withdrawals exceed the amount of recharge, and water levels have declined fairly consistently through time.
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