Exploring The Sustainability
Of The Ogallala Aquifer
Erin O’Brien
Biological & Agricultural Engineering
National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates
McNair Scholar’s Program
Kansas State University
Summer 2001
Introduction
The Ogallala aquifer lies within the Great
Plains region.
This groundwater source is a part of the
High Plains aquifer system.
• In Kansas the High Plains aquifer system and
the Ogallala aquifer are typically the same.
Western Kansas is a major economic
source for Kansas:
• 40% of the nation’s packaged beef comes
from within 250 miles of Garden City, and
• Kansas is 2nd in the nation in cattle slaughter
and 3rd for red meat production.
 “Meeting fundamental human needs while
preserving the life-support systems of planet
Earth is the essence of sustainable
development.”
—(Kates, et al. 2001)
 Since irrigation from the Ogallala taps ‘fossil’
groundwater there is an issue of sustainability of
the current system.
Study Area
My study looked at the High Plains with a
focus on SW Kansas.
The Ogallala aquifer:
• Underlies 134,000 mi2,
• Is the largest body of groundwater in the U.S.
• The porous rock layers were formed ~10
million years ago by fluvial deposition.
--(Guru 2000)
The High Plains aquifer has 3.25 billion
ac-ft of water, approximately equivalent to
Lake Huron.
30% of the water used for irrigation in the
U.S. comes from the High Plains aquifer.
10% percent of the drainable water in the
High Plains aquifer underlies Kansas.
The High Plains aquifer faces many
different concerns, including purity,
quality, quantity, and saturated thickness.
The Ogallala region has many concerns:
• ~19% is covered by sand dunes;
• Water consumption is 10-40 times recharge
• Local precipitation does not affect recharge
Ogallala facts:
• Only 15-20% of the water is available for
withdrawal and only 60-80% of this is
technologically accessible.
• KGS scientists say it may take 35 years for
recharge water to reach the aquifer.
• The water in the Ogallala is fossil water and is
only available through groundwater mining.
History
The droughts of the 1930s and 50s made
people realize that the climate changes of
the region were simply cyclical variations.
Irrigation rapidly expanded following the
drought of the 1950s.
By 1972, ~40% of the available
groundwater had been consumed.
Technology
In 1896 in Garden City, KS, a centrifugal
pump was one of the first attempts at
irrigation in Kansas.
Another pump was in use by 1911 in Scott
City, KS.
In 1949, center-pivot systems were
developed.
Drop tubes & subsurface drip irrigation
(SDI) have become common recently.
Rules/Regulations
In 1972 KS passed the GMD Act to:
• Regulate groundwater,
• Grant drilling permits, and
• Ensure old water rights are protected.
Constraints exist on policies that would
decrease water availability. Adjustments
must be technically, financially, legally,
and socially feasible.
Sustainability Issues
Farmers irrigate for many reasons:
•
•
•
•
To meet a specific crop need;
To increase yearly income;
As a result of success by other irrigators; and
To maintain their water rights.
The number of irrigated acres is declining
in all states.
Irrigation offers a climate substitute and
enables increased yields.
Top: Feedlot at Dodge City,
KS.
Left: Sign for IBP, a packing
plant near Garden City,
KS.
Recurrent droughts are a hazard for the
region.
There were two prolonged droughts in the
last century:
• In the 1930s and the 1950s.
 What will happen when the water is gone?
• Two New Jersey scholars have proposed a
“buffalo commons” national park.
The area has already been affected by
a decreased flow in the Arkansas River
due to diversion and pumping.
It has only
recently began
to flow again,
after a Supreme
Court ruling limited
withdrawals.
These pages show graphs indicating:
•
•
•
•
Predevelopment saturated thickness,
Current saturated thickness,
The amount of groundwater depletion, and
The number of years of usage remaining.
--Schloss, et al. 2000.
Summary
Can the Ogallala aquifer be sustained?
History shows that farmers are adaptable
to a variable climate.
Technological advances have greatly
improved water use efficiency.
The current irrigation-based economy can
be sustained for several more decades.
We must plan for what will happen when
irrigated agriculture and the associated
agribusiness economy becomes a thing of
the past.
Acknowledgements
 Guru, Manjula V., and James E. Horne. "The Ogallala Aquifer.” Kerr Center
for Sustainable Agriculture, Inc.
<http://www.kerrcenter.com/RDPP/ogallala.htm>. July 2000.
 Kates, Robert W., et al. “Sustainability Science.” Science. Vol. 292, 641642: 27 April 2001.
 Kromm, David E., and Stephen E. White, eds. Groundwater Exploitation in
the High Plains. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1992.
 Schloss, Jeffrey A., Robert W. Buddemeier, and Blake B. Wilson, eds. An
Atlas of the Kansas High Plains Aquifer. Lawrence, Kansas: Kansas
Geological Survey, 2000.
 Dr. John Harrington, Jr., Dept. of Geography, Kansas State University
 Dr. David E. Kromm, Dept. of Geography, Kansas State University