The Future of The High Plains Aquifer
Addressing Potential Desertification In The Great Plains
RISD Thesis
Type: Academic / Individual Work
Time: Spring 2022
Tutor: Emily Vogler, Gavin Zeitz, Johanna Barthmaier-Payne
Location: Garden City, Kansas
High Plains Aquifer, also known as Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world’s largest aquifers. Today the High Plains Aquifers support about one-fifth of the agricultural product. It has 55.6% ranch land (USGS). Large-scale extraction for agricultural purposes started after World War II due to center pivot irrigation and to the adaptation of automotive engines to power groundwater wells. Today about 27% of the irrigated land in the entire United States lies over the aquifer, which yields about 30% of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States. The aquifer is at risk of over-extraction and pollution. Once depleted, the aquifer will take over 6,000 years to replenish naturally through rainfall.
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