Ogalla Aquifer Case Study

The Ogallala Aquifer is a reservoir that many farmers have tapped into so that they can water their crops. One fifth of the total US agricultural harvest is grown from the water in the aquifer. With this being said more than 20 billion worth of food and fiber will vanish if the Ogallala Aquifer keeps drying up. Southern Kansas was hit the hardest from the decline of water. It has dropped 150 feet or more forcing farmers to abandon their wells. It is said that the aquifer did not start being extracted from until World War two. After the diesel pump replaced windmills a few gallons became a hundred. The number of wells went from 1,166 to 66,000 within 34 years. But with this explosion in wells it fattened at least 40% of grain fed beef as well as incressing crop. There is always a down side to something like this though. The water lever had dropped 10 feet within the 34 years. Some areas had a decline of 100 feet. This sent up red flags and now the U.S. Geological Survey started studding the more than 7,000 wells to assess the annual water-level …show more content…
He has decided to not water his 6,000 acres. He now only grows wheat and grain because it does not need as much water as something like corn. He then does not plow his fields and plants into the residue of the old crop. By doing this the residue can actually hold more water from rainfall. The Funks family are not the only ones trying to conserve water. Researches are now developing les thirsty crops so that we can still grow things like corn without it dying from a drought. Other farms use sensors that measure the leaf tempeture so this way farmer are only watering when it is actually needed instead of when they think it’s needed this is saving two inches per crop per season. What most people are doing is trying to conserve even an inch. There over goal is not to save the Ogallala Aquifer but to maybe give it another 100