Seliger's Bill Would Protect Ogallala Aquifer

The Ogallala Aquifer stretches from the lower plains of West Texas to parts of Wyoming and Nebraska. The aquifer is huge, and around 90% of the people who live on the aquifer get their drinking water from it. The aquifer is critical to several states for not only drinking water, but also for agricultural irrigation.

But as large as the aquifer is, its supply of water is not endless. In fact, a recent U.S. Geological survey found that in the last sixty years, the level of the aquifer has dropped about a foot. That's 9-10% of the water in the aquifer that is now gone, mainly due to irrigation. That's because the area above it is covered by a clay soil, and the aquifer does not replenish itself as readily as most other aquifers.

It's already apparent that even current usage cannot be maintained indefinitely, and before too long something must be done to limit usage -- especially agricultural usage. That's why I was horrified to learn of T. Boone Pickens plans for his Mesa Water Company.

Mesa formed a water district in the Panhandle of Texas. That district gives them eminent domain powers, and the ability to stretch a pipeline (9 feet in diameter) from the Panhandle to the urban metroplex of Dallas/Ft. Worth. Their plan was to pump millions of gallons of water every day through this huge pipeline for sale to the urban areas.

You can imagine what this would do to the Ogallala Aquifer. With the level of the aquifer already falling, how many years would it take with this pipeline to suck it dry? That pipeline might make Pickens much richer than he already is, but it could turn large parts of several states into a virtual desert. It is a very bad idea that needs to be stopped before it gets started.

Fortunately, it looks like State Senator Kel Seliger is trying to do that. Seliger (pictured) has filed SB1254 in the Texas Legislature this session, and the future of the High Plains may depend on whether he can get the bill passed. The bill would limit the use of imminent domain by water districts to no more than 75 miles. That would stop Mesa's plans to sell the aquifer to other areas of Texas.

Mesa, of course, is whining that the bill singles them out. They are right. It would affect no one else, but that is because no one else is planning to pipe the Ogallala's water hundreds of miles away to an urban area.

I am usually pretty hard on the Republican Senator Seliger, but I think he's doing the right thing with this bill and I hope he can get it passed. I have no problem with T. Boone Pickens selling his natural gas or his wind energy, but he needs to leave the water of the Ogallala Aquifer alone.

The future of the Panhandle and the High Plains may depend on this bill.