GEOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Water pumped for irrigation from the Ogallala Aquifer is the principal driver of the region’s mostly agricultural-based economy (market value $35 billion) Unfortunately, intensive irrigated agriculture is draining the aquifer much faster than rainfall can replenish it.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to researchers from Stanford University, West Texas A&M University, and others, up to 40% of Ogallala will be unable to support irrigated crop production within the next 80 years. Other studies have even more dire news, projecting that the entire aquifer will be 70% depleted within the next 50 years.

Detailed explanation-3: -Water level declines began in the 1950s, with the onset of intensive groundwater extraction for irrigation-based agriculture. The total overdraft of the aquifer is almost 250 million acre-feet, from pre-development (ca. 1950) to 2011 – this is almost 17 times the annual flow of the Colorado River.

Detailed explanation-4: -Human activities would be the most obvious reason for High Plain Aquifer depletion. No doubt, groundwater overuse is the main reason for groundwater depletion. The amount of water that humans withdrawal from underground has already exceeded the environmental limits among groundwater use.