Ogallala Aquifer Gets Outside Help

The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest fresh-water aquifers in the world.   It is believed the aquifer contains nearly as much water as Lake Erie and Lake Huron put together, and covers about 111 million acres under parts of eight different states in the High Plains area in the middle of the United States.   The eight states that draw water from the aquifer are Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

The aquifer is especially important to the High Plains area of Texas.   This is a very productive area for farming and ranching and much of the water needed to sustain these agricultural industries comes from the Ogallala Aquifer.   This is especially true in drought years, when irrigation from the aquifer almost completely sustains the areas agriculture.   Many High Plains cities (such as Amarillo, population about 200,000) get at least part of their water supply from the aquifer.

But there is a problem with the aquifer.   It cannot replenish itself quickly.   Most aquifers are easily replenished by rainwater trickling down through the earth.   But much of the Ogallala Aquifer is covered by a clay-like soil that makes replenishment a much slower process.   Currently, the aquifer is not being replenished as fast as it is being used.   In 2009 alone, the water in the aquifer dropped about 1.5 feet, and since the 1930s the water level in the aquifer has dropped over 100 feet.

Something must be done about this, since the continuing drop in the water level will eventually drain the aquifer.   If this happens, it would be a disaster here in the Texas Panhandle.   Many cities would be unable to sustain their current populations, let alone projected growth.   Farming would be unsustainable and ranching would not be able to produce anywhere near the current levels of beef production.

Fortunately, it looks like the Ogallala Aquifer will be getting some help from an unlikely source -- Michigan State University (MSU).   Although the state of Michigan is nowhere near the Ogallala Aquifer and gets no water from it, MSU has received a $1.2 million four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to study the aquifer and try to determine the best way to improve the management of and conservation of the aquifer's water.

MSU hydrogeologist David Hyndman will lead a multidisciplinary team of scientists, in conjunction with the Kansas Geological Survey, to "study the interactions between the region's landscape, atmosphere and socio-economic systems."   By producing forecasts and projections of a variety of solutions to the problem, they hope to come up with the best way to adjust land management and water use policies to insure the future viability of the aquifer.

I hope they succeed in coming up with some answers that will solve the problem.   The future of the High Plains may well depend on it.