Sunday, September 05, 2010

The Ogallala Aquifer and Its Role as a Threatened American Resource - APEC HRDWG Wiki

The Ogallala Aquifer and Its Role as a Threatened American Resource - APEC HRDWG Wiki
Here's some info on what I refer to below...

The Ogallala aquifer is being used today to supply residential and agricultural communities across eight Midwestern states. For nearly 80 years the nation’s breadbasket has been irrigated from Ogallala groundwater—a practice so unsustainable it severely threatens an aquifer that had flourished for over a million years. Farmlands are already shrinking on some portions of the Ogallala that have been mined of water. As the water table continues to plummet the High Plains will have to take drastic measures, whether communities import costly water or abandon the most profitable farming in the nation. Either way the decision has to be made soon because the aquifer that once held enough water to cover the entire United States under 1.5 feet of water is rapidly running out.

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