The Kansas Reflector’s Allison Kite and Kevin Hardy reported Monday that “disappearing water” in the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from South Dakota to Texas, “is threatening more than just agriculture. Rural communities are facing dire futures where water is no longer a certainty. Across the Ogallala, small towns and cities built around agriculture are facing a twisted threat: The very industry that made their communities might just eradicate them.”
“Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly acknowledges some communities are just a generation away from running out of water,” Kite and Hardy reported. “But she said there’s still time to act. ‘If they do nothing, I think they’re going to suffer the consequences,’ Kelly said in an interview.”
Why the Aquifer is Important The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the most crucial water sources in the United States for both agricultural production and for daily water use in households. According to Oklahoma State University, “approximately 14 percent of the total aquifer area consists of irrigated acres capable of producing $7 billion in crop sales. The Ogallala aquifer provides one-fourth of the total water supply used for agricultural production across the U.S.”
Kite and Hardy report that that adds up to “20% of the nation’s wheat, corn, cotton and cattle production and represents 30% of all water used for irrigation in the United States.”
“The water from the aquifer is being pumped by nearly 200,000 irrigation wells, most of them installed since the 1940s,” according to the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. “Installation rates have varied, with the highest rates generally occurring during dry years.”
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Categories: Illinois, Crops, Corn, Wheat, Livestock, Beef Cattle, Rural Lifestyle