This...
Is gonna get ugly...
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides about 30 percent of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States, is being drained faster than it can recharge. As with many above-ground lakes, that means it could one day run dry.
The USGS has reported that groundwater levels in some areas of the Ogallala – which runs from Texas to South Dakota – have dropped 200 feet since large-scale irrigation began. NASA’s Earthdata analysis found that overuse has led to significant declines in Ogallala groundwater levels that threaten its sustainability.
Water management is becoming a critical issue for farmers and ranchers. Even in Texas, people are too familiar with electricity brownouts and blackouts that sometimes last for days. But when a reservoir or an aquifer runs dry, the wait can be far longer.
Full article HERE, from Town Hall.
While ‘we’ don’t directly get water from it, we do pull some from the Seymour Aquifer, see below-
[caption id=”attachment_24128” align=”alignnone” width=”1220”]
Courtesy of USGS
It is what’s called an ‘unconstrained’ aquifer, in that it is geographically diverse and not connected. We do get ‘some’ municipal water from it, but most of our water comes from surface lakes.
Which makes us susceptible to water rationing when it doesn’t rain (drought) and the water levels in the lakes fall. We haven’t had a ‘water emergency’ since I’ve been here (10 years now), but I know we’ve come close at least once.
As a friend of fond of saying, water is for fighting, and whisky is for drinking. And I think we’re about to get in a fight... sigh...
And it’s not just here in Texas. The whole Colorado River Compact is apparently up for discussion, due to the mandatory ‘rationing’ of water downstream. There is also the ‘issue’ of senior water rights, granted in the 1800s that predate any agreements and outrank the agreements.
And the major lakes/water supplies are low, due to little rain and virtually no snowpack in some areas.
All I can say is be smart folks...
OK, Why is this just being noticed in 2026?
When I was stationed at Ft Sill in the early 1980s, questions were being raised about the dry land farmers to the north who were raising corn on pivot irrigation systems - drawing directly from the Ogallala, with small, but measurable drops being recorded every year.
IIRC, even National Geographic did at least one, and I think two articles on the problem.
The seven states treaty for the Colorado river was written based on bad data from its inception. Thank you Herbert Hoover. Re negotiations have been ongoing and failing since the year 2000. Thank you California. For people in, say Las Vegas, it's not about the water. We pull less than one half of one percent as our part of the treaty and we pull it from under the lake. It's about the power. At 941 feet Lake Mead hits dead pool and the turbines stop. No one gets power. So I just bought a little bit of land elsewhere. I believe I have 2027 because the feds have forced a treaty for that long.