A Nation’s Precarious Underground Water Supply

Texas and Kansas Farmers Take Different Paths to Saving Water

Farmers are in the field from dawn to dusk during harvest season. Stuart Beckman's field in Thomas County produced 198 bushels per acre, well above the state average of 125 bushels per acre in 2013. Irrigation, using water from the Ogallala Aquifer, allows farmers to grow three to four times as much grain per acre compared to a field that relies solely on rainfall.

The Economics of Ogallala Water

Water Availability in the Ogallala Basin Influences Crop Choices

Stuart Beckman (center) takes a break with his crew at the Menlo Co-op in Menlo, Kansas. Beckman asserts that farmers in his area are some of the most progressive around. They need to be in order to protect their livelihood. "Without irrigation this community would dry up and blow away," Beckman says.
Grain is the economic fulcrum for towns that dot the Great Plains. But growing the millions of bushels of corn, soybeans, and wheat is slowly draining the region's primary water source, the Ogallala Aquifer. Unless consumption rates change, some prime farming regions in Kansas and Texas have only a few decades of water remaining.

Government Ethanol Directive is Challenge to Water Conservation

In Sign of the Times, A Water Pipeline in Nebraska Taps the Ogallala to Serve Thirsty Kansas

Map: The Shrinking Ogallala Aquifer

Map: The Ogallala Aquifer – A Freshwater Bonanza in Decline