Ogallala Aquifer Case Study

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The Ogallala Aquifer was found in 1889. Since then, 170,000 wells have been made, just in SW Kansas. If we stop pumping right now it will take hundreds of years to refill. If we use it until it is completely dry, it will take 6,000 years to naturally refill. One of the main reasons the aquifer is drying up so fast is center pivot irrigation, which is used by a lot of farmers in SW Kansas. 50% of the water brought up through the wells to water crops is wasted. Water is being pumped out much faster than the Ogallala Aquifer can replenish, therefore dropping the water levels in the aquifer severely.

The Ogallala Aquifer began forming over 5 million years ago. It stretches beneath 174,000 square miles of land. Its depth reaches between 100 ft and 400 ft below the surface. The aquifer runs from west to east and fluids move from 25 to 300 feet per day. The average annual recharge rate of the aquifer is .85 in/year or 21.59 mm/year. …show more content…

If it dries up, it will cause farms to become uninhabitable. SW Kansas makes $5 billion off of the aquifer from farming. It also makes $384.4 billion off of the beef from the cattle that eat the crops. Another $1.75 billion is made from corn production. 4.3%, that is the amount of jobs in Kansas that are based off of the aquifer. The drying of the aquifer will affect all of Kansas, and all of the

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