Ready or Not, Groundwater Goes

The Great Plains make up a large part of the United States; about 1/6 of the contiguous states (Verchick 13). In the 1850's, when European Americans first began exploring this 1/6 of the U.S., they called it "The Great American Desert" (Verchick 14). They didn't give it this name for just any reason. The area, as many know already from experience, is very prone to drought. "Megadroughts" lasting 20 or more years occur every 300 to 500 years, and regional droughts such as the Dust Bowl of the 1930's happen about every 50 years (Verchick 14). So at that particular time the explorers were correct with the moniker. No one lived there permnamently; even the Native Americans migrated when the seasons changed. Expeditioners believed it unfit for cultivation and anyone wanting to depend on agriculture for a living (Verchick 14).

They were right, that is, until irrigation spread onto the scene. Now settlers found stability. Pumps, well-drilling techniques and electricity first used in rural Texas spurred a dramatic rise in irrigation in the 1930's that spread to Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska as technology improved. By the early 1970's, area-wide water pumping like today's was common (Kromm xiii). Irrigated countries thrived, unlike unirrigated counties, in terms of population, number of farms, total income, total employment, farm size and crop sales. Yields of irrigated farming are 2 to 3 times those of dryland farming (Gardner 33). In addition to widespread irrigation, sod-busting techniques, the monoculture growth technique and the growing of Russian wheat enhanced the excessive need for water (Verchick 15). These techniques had worked fine in the wetter Northeast but were having trouble working in the dry Midwest. Irrigation made it possible, and water turned into a "mined"-- and abused-- resource (Verchick 15). However, this kind of farming is not ecologically sustainable. Today our agriculture production requires only 2% of the population; one farmer in the Plains feeds 8 dozen people (Verchick 15).

So what made the Great Plains so "great"? The answer to settlers' irrigation needs was the Ogallala aquifer, an underground "sponge" of saturated sand and soil, the largest aquifer in North America (Verchick 13). The "Ogallala", which is a Sioux word for "spread throughout", underlies 8 states, 184 counties, 174,000 square miles and holds 4,000 billion cubic meters of water (Verchick 14). It is 150 to 300 feet thick from end to end and holds enough to cover all 50 states with 1.5 feet of water, enough to fill Lake Huron (Thorpe 44). Today more than 7 million acres of the old Dust Bowl are hydrated by it (Gardner 32). Formed by prehistoric glacial melting, the Ogallala would take over 6,000 years to fill again if it were suddenly drained (Verchick 14).

Sounds like plenty of water, right? Pretty much unlimited? Think again. The aquifer that so many states depend on for their livelihood is being rapidly depleted. In the Texas panhandle, where the most depletion occurs, farmers use Ogallala water to irrigate an area the size of New Jersey for crops that would normally not survive in such a climate. Rainfall there is only about 18 inches a year. In fact, the only area in the Texas panhandle without a significant ground water deficit is Roberts County, where the Ogallala is a rare 300 feet thick (Thorpe 44). Most of the wealth of the aquifer lies in Nebraska, where the saturated thickness is anywhere from 100 to 1200 feet underground through much of the state (Verchick 14).

These reserves, however, are nothing compared to what they used to be. Water lied anywhere from 1200 to 65,000 feet below the surface, sometimes percolating above the ground in some areas (Verchick 14). It used to seep out in plentiful springs, but unfortunately most of these have dried up (Thorpe 44). Unlike most aquifers, the Ogallala is harder to recharge, or begin to refill with water naturally. Rainfall has trouble penetrating the hard caliche crust above it, recharging at the slow rate of 1 inch a year (Thorpe 44). Some of this has to do with the natural environment: the areas of greatest saturation are covered with mollisols and entisols, which are among the most naturally fertile soils in the world. Low areas of saturation and of high depletion are covered by alfisols and aridisols, soils that experience extended periods of inadequate water for plants, for example (Kromm 6). But draining by 2 feet a year an aquifer so slowly filling at 1 inch a year certainly isn't going to help such natural recharge environment factors.

The Ogallala has become exploited. In 1949 when widespread pumping first started, 2.5 billion cubic meters were pumped a year. Today that figure is over 22 billion cubic meters (Gardner 32). In some areas, the consumption rate was 10 times that of the recharge rate. Not surprisingly, there is a net loss of groundwater in every Ogallala state (Gardner 32). Annual declines of more than 10 feet are present in 29% of the Ogallala area; declines over 50 feet exist in 7% of the area (Gardner 32). The sad thing is that only recently in terms of the U.S. irrigation history has the general population become aware of groundwater depletion, in the mid 1970's. During this time Congress formed the High Plains study project to monitor and study management and water supply strategies (Avalon 668).

The areas of greatest risk on the aquifer are south of the Canadian river, in the Texas panhandle, and in eastern New Mexico (Avalos 668). Texas has the highest population and population increase of the aquifer area. The second highest population of the Ogallala states is in Nebraska, but unlike Texas, their population has the highest decrease. In fact, states with a population increase, regardless of population size, have significant Ogallala deficits: Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas. States with population decreases show better groundwater recharge or stability, no matter what the population itself: Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado (Kromm 8).

Although 90% of the Ogallala is now depended on by the U.S. for farming, no federal legislation regulates the use of it. Even the Clean Water Act exempts groundwater almost entirely (Verchick 15). It is shared by 8 states, but there are no regional interstate compacts involving the Ogallala; each state has its own usage policy (Verchick 15). In Texas, the policy is a "use it or lose it" mentality based on "capture", which encourages the immediate consumption of the water, a resource viewed as the private property of whomever pumps it. In Nebraska, a strong conserver, use is controlled more responsibly, by water districts. New Mexico, on the other hand, with a large deficit similar to Texas', has a then not surprising "unlimited use" policy, using consumption to help "support full economic development" (Verchick 15). In Oklahoma, residents have sort of given up, with "planned depletion in 50 years", if that. Kansas promotes a "zero depletion policy", in which consumption rate should ideally match recharge rate (Verchick 16). But can we recharge in 20 to 30 years we have left a resource that water has been present in for over thousands of years?

This is where water management comes in. Awareness and concern about water issues, however, differs between rural and urban residents, public officials and the general public, and within different regions of the Ogallala area. How can so many be pleased at once? Common sense solutions are reduced consumption and more efficient resource use, which are also the cheapest and quickest solutions. But in the Plains, were water costs a mere 1 to 2 cents a cubic meter, wasteful water use is frustratingly encouraged as well as cheap-- so cheap that losses up to 5000 gallons a foot in the irrigation ditches don't affect profit, but they do affect the environment. Water-saving measures can't be implemented while such poor irrigation techniques are being practiced (Gardner 33).

There are three water management strategies for dealing with the Ogallala problem: voluntary conservation, mandatory regulation, and importation (Avalos 668). Voluntary conservation, the most popular and widely practiced is also the most ineffective solution because it encourages the rate of current wasteful consumption, just no more. Mandatory regulation, the most promising strategy, is unpopular now but may become popular as the groundwater more rapidly depletes, creating a kind of efficient desperation. Importation, the transfer of water from one basin to the next (aquifer to river or aquifer to aquifer) is not likely because of so many differing concerns and attitudes (Avalos 673). In terms of importation, many residents believe it is the government's duty to provide water sufficient for a region's survival. Others believe interbasin transfers should be available, as they had worked in other areas (not mentioned). Still others worry they would have to pay for water going to people other than themselves if not living in a depleted region. Many worry about what effect building an importation canal would have on the environment (Avalos 673).

Another problem with any water management strategy is that water policy preference depends on the perception of water value of the area. Indeed, to some conservation "experts", more marketable water rights is a form of conservation, which is beginning to be more a concept of economic rather than ecological efficiency (Avalos 671). A study done within the Ogallala east region of New Mexico by the New Mexico Water Resource Research Institute (WRRI) in 1983 also revealed another hang-up in water management programs-- attitude (Avalos 669).

In New Mexico, where water supply is already scarce, there is more pressure to focus on present rather than future use-- not a good environment for conservational programs. Many of those surveyed in the study viewed depletion as unsolvable and that it is too late to try to solve them. Again, this lazy attitude will get even any current water policies nowhere. Many still complained about mandatory regulation in particular, mantaining that if mandatory regulation was started in their state, similar regulations should be placed on their neighboring states. Others suggest that a simple no-till tax deduction would help encourage conservation through agriculture (Avalos 672).

All in all, opponents of regulation tend to be those in danger of regulation themselves. Proponents of regulation are out of area, non-irrigators whose relationship and dependence on water resources are pretty low. These are also short-term residents who are not worried about extreme shortage in the future (Avalos 672). These New Mexico residents in particular need to do something more, however. As in Texas, the increasing cost of pumping groundwater has already forced many New Mexico farmers to return to dryland farming, pre-irrigation technology style.

This is because water pumping is in itself not totally efficient. Only 15% percent of water available in the Ogallala can only be recovered with current pumping technology. This mean 85% of the Ogallala is only resource, and not usable reserve (Avalos 668). Alo, current and inevitable future drops in water level will rie the cost of pumping regionwide, like it did in New Mexico, requiring more fossil fuels to get water to the surface, geologists say (Thorpe 44). It's bad news for farmers already losing crop yield and money. As groundwater levels drop, the Ogallala will not be able to yield as much in pumping because of the consequent drop in water pressure, which aids in pumping. By 2020, the aquifer should yield only 39% of what it yielded in 1977 (Kromm 207). In 1982, a High Plains Ogallala Aquifer Region Resource Study, funded by the Department of Commerce predicted that the Ogallala would be depleted by 2020 unless usage changed "dramatically". Now, 25 years later, usage has yet to change much. Attitudes and the way we live in the Midwest will have to change before it does, or we may live to see that prediction come true-- whether we are ready for change or not.

Works Cited

Avalos, Manuel and DeYoung, Timothy. "Preferences for water policy in the Ogallala region of New Mexico: distributive vs. regulatory solutions". Policy Studies Journal. V.3 Winter 1995. p. 668-85.

Gardner, Gary. "From oasis to mirage: the aquifers that won't replenish". World Watch. V.8 May/June 1995. p. 30-6.

Kromm, David E. and White, Stephen E. Groundwater Exploitation in the High Plains. University Press of Kansas. 1992.

Thorpe, Helen. "Waterworld". Texas Monthly. V. 23 Sept 1995. p. 44.

Verchick, Robert R.M. "Dust bowl blues: saving and sharing the Ogallala aquifer". Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation. V. 14. no. 1 Spring 1999. p. 13-23.