Time to Act

Ogallala Aquifer Recovery Strategy - Help Save the Ogallala Aquifer

One doesn't have to search far on Google to find out the dire situation of the Ogallala aquifer for future generations. We are joining this good cause with the Ogallala Aquifer Recovery Strategy or OARS initiative. We are dedicated to the survival of this vital aquifer and ask you to join in the cause. +1 this site, like us on Facebook, pin us on Pintrest, tweet us on Twitter, share a photo on Instagram. We need this issue noticed and what better way than by the voice of the people through social media. You have the power to help the future generations affected by the depletion of this aquifer. We appreciate your support and do this not for money or fame or fortune :) but for our future generations.

The Ogallala aquifer or the High Plains Aquifer is the largest known aquifer in the world. It is so large it covers 174,000 miles across 8 states and holds over 978 trillion gallons of water. At its’ peak it has enough water to cover the entire united states with 15 feet of water. It lies in the United States high plains region were precipitation is low. This means it’s harder for the aquifer to replenish itself.

Ogallala Aquifer

This resource started being tapped into in 1910. The 8 states with direct access to it are among the driest states in America. In order to farm this resource has been used and has turned the mid region into one of the most thriving agricultural areas in America. This is especially true for the Texas high plains which is one of the driest areas and uses the Aquifer intensively.

Since 1910, as we have tapped more and more into the aquifer, 30% has been depleted and by 2060 with current trends we will have depleted 69% of the aquifer. If we keep this up by 2110 we will have depleted. Along with this depletion we are also polluting the aquifer with chemicals. When this aquifer is depleted or poisoned to the point where we can’t efficiently use it or drink it, what are we going to do? Or should we say what are our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren …. going to do then? The aquifer replenishes about 15% of what is being pumped. We would have to reduce pumping of the aquifer by 85% to maintain a balance.

The aquifer provides 30% or our nation’s irrigation. For places like the Texas high plains in the panhandle this aquifer is the main source of water. These desert like places are in desperate need of the water and can’t be sustained without it. The Table below shows the breakout of water usage in the Texas high plains.

Texas High Plains Direct Water Use by Sector
Irrigation	93.33%
MUNICIPAL	2.94%
LiveStock	1.48%
MANUFACTURING	0.99%
Steam Electric	0.84%
Fed Cattle	0.84%
Mining	0.50%
Other	0.35%
Dairy	0.19%
Swine	0.10 %

The table shows that the main water usage is Irrigation by a large margin of 93.33% followed by municipal at 2.94% and livestock at 1.48%. Without the Aquifer irrigation would not be possible at these levels. Farming and ranching would not be possible. The economy, with its focus on farming and ranching would collapse without this water supply.  We must find ways to help our farmers and to help our communities conserve water. We need to provide a future for our children.

The Ogallala aquifer is an endangered aquifer and cannot sustain itself without our action. What can we do? Some farmers water at night or early morning so the sun doesn’t evaporate almost 30% of the water. There is drip farming which is helps conserve water usage.  Different kinds of crops like corn use excessive amounts of water to grow while others like certain types of zucchini and beans need very little water. In fact some tomatoes actually grow better if you shut off their water supply part way during their growing season. We have ideas and techniques. We are a bright enough and capable enough nation to solve this unavoidable issue. In our cities what can we do to conserve water? Let’s think beyond today and provide for our future generations before it’s too late.

References

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/08/14/1220351110.full.pdf+html

http://texashelp.tamu.edu/004-natural/pdfs/2010-panhandle-water-use-dairy-other-commodities.pdf

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/aquifers.htm

http://www.oregonlive.com/argus/index.ssf/2011/04/consider_crops_that_take_less.html

Converting Corn To Ethanol: Accelerated Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer

The Ogallala Aquifer provides irrigation water for much of the productive farmland in the Great Plains of the United States.  Most of Nebraska and parts of seven other states, including much of the Texas Panhandle and High Plains, are over the aquifer, and rely on it for irrigation.  The federal laws known as the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires "renewable fuels" such as ethanol be blended into gasoline in ever-increasing amounts (http://www.epa.gov/OTAQ/fuels/renewablefuels/), and their passage led to the boom in production of ethanol as a renewable fuel to meet the mandates.

Almost 2 million people relied on the Ogallala Aquifer, which the USGS calls the High Plains aquifer system, for drinking water in 2000, according to the US Geological Survey poublication High Plains Regional Ground-Water Study (USGS, 2000) (http://co.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/hpgw/meetings/DENNEHY4.html and http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/fs09100). With the increase in population in this area, the number is much higher today.

A result of the renewable fuels mandate is the increase of land being used to grow corn for ethanol production and soybeans for biodiesel.  Virgin land is being plowed and planted in corn as a result of the push for more ethanol.  Based on satellite imagery, a conservative estimate of 12. million acres has been lost to corn farming in Nebraska and the Dakotas since 2006, and the Conservation Reserve Program has lost hundreds of thousands of acres to corn crops. (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-dirty-cost-obamas-green-power-push-1)

The more land that is converted to growing corn and the more corn that is converted to ethanol, the more water it takes.  It takes about 350,000 gallons of water over the 100-day season per acre of corn (http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Xeris/howmuch.htm). According to Jack Flobeck in http://gazette.com/the-water-and-corn-cost-for-a-gallon-of-ethanol/article/1506579, it takes 75 gallons of water to grow the corn needed to produce one gallon of ethanol. It then takes 3 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol according to Mr. Flobeck (above link and according to the University of Illinois Extension Center, http://web.extension.illinois.edu/ethanol/wateruse.cfm). It is estimated that in 2007, ethanol production used 861 billion gallons of water (http://www.ecogeek.org/biofuels/2680).

There are ethanol plants over the aquifer with a production capacity of 2004.5 million gallons per year; production as of February 2013 of 1600.5 million gallons per year; and capacity under construction of 45 million gallons per year (http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/122.htm). At 78 gallons water per gallon of ethanol produced, this means 124,839 million gallons of water were necessary to grow the corn and produce the ethanol from it.  In this region, a large percentage of the water necessary came from the aquifer.

About 95% of the water from the Ogallala Aquifer being used for agriculture and the area over the aquifer is about 65% of the total irrigated acreage in the United States. (http://www.hpwd.com/aquifers/ogallala-aquifer) The more acres that are put into growing corn and the more water-intensive industries built over the aquifer, the faster the water is pulled out of the aquifer.  We need a sensible policy for farming and industry in the area to preserve the water we have, not use it like there's no tomorrow; otherwise the day may come when there is no tomorrow for those of us who rely on the Ogallala Aquifer for our water, and those all over the world who rely on food produced in this region.

Pickens' Heart-Warming Commericals - Are Not What They Seem!

Lately we’ve all been made aware of the heart-warming commercials TV about how private industry is going to break our chains of oil addiction through wind power, right? I’m one that is and was skeptical of this and still do not see it as a sustainable option. The power plants have to have power generated through fossil fuel anyway to make up for the variances in wind power. As we look further, it is clear there are alter motives by a certain T. Boone Pickens.

Pickens’ pitch is to “embrace wind power to help break our ‘addiction’ to foreign oil.” Pickens seems to leave out a very important tidbit of information in his commercials— water rights, which he owns more of than any other American.

“Pickens hopes that his recent $100 million investment in 200,000 acres worth of groundwater rights in Roberts County, Texas, located over the Ogallala Aquifer, will earn him $1 billion”(Milstein). However there’s more to making such a profit than simply owning the water. Rights-of-way must be bought to install pipelines, and opposition from anti-development environmental groups must be handled. Here’s the interesting part, according to information compiled by the Water Research Group, a small grassroots group focusing on local water issues in Texas.

Purchasing rights-of-way is often high-dollar and can take a lot of time — and what if landowners refuse to sell? While private owners may be difficult, governments can still exercise eminent domain to make sales. This is Pickens’ way of doing business. But wait, you say, Pickens is not a government entity. How can he use eminent domain? Ready for this?

Per Pickens’ request, the Texas legislature changed state law to allow the two residents of an 8-acre parcel of land in Roberts County to vote to create a municipal water district, a government agency with eminent domain powers. Who were the voters? They were Pickens’ wife and the manager of Pickens’ nearby ranch. And who sits on the board of directors of this water district? They are the parcel’s three other non-resident landowners, all Pickens’ employees. Ahhh, there’s the rub!

A local water conservation board member told Bloomberg News that, “[Pickens has] obtained the right of eminent domain like he was a big city. It’s supposed to be for the public good, not a private company.”

How does this tie into Pickens’ wind-power plan? Just as he needs pipelines to sell his water, he also needs transmission lines to sell his wind-generated power. Rights of way for transmission lines are also acquired through eminent domain — and, once again, the Texas legislature has come to Pickens’ aid.

In the most recent years, Texas modified its law to allow renewable energy projects (like Pickens’ wind farm) to obtain rights-of-way by piggybacking on a water district’s eminent domain power. Pickens can now use his water district’s authority to also condemn land for his future wind farm’s transmission lines.

Who will pay for the rights-of-way and the transmission lines and pipelines? Thanks to another gift from Texas politicians, Pickens’ water district can sell tax-free, taxpayer-guaranteed municipal bonds to finance the $2.2 billion cost of the water pipeline. And then earlier this month, the Texas legislature voted to spend $4.93 billion for wind farm transmission lines. While Pickens has denied that this money is earmarked for him, he nevertheless is building the largest wind farm in the world.

Despite this legislative largesse, it still smells fishy.

Although Pickens hopes to sell as much as $165 million worth of water annually to Dallas alone, no city in Texas has signed up yet — partly because they don’t yet need the water and partly because of resentment against water profiteering. But by the looks of it, it won’t be long!

A TreeHugger.com writer recently observed, “… I am left asking myself why the green media have neglected [the water] aspect of Pickens’ wind-farm plans? Have we been so distracted by the prospect of Texas’ renewable energy portfolio growing by 4000 megawatts that we are willing to overlook some potentially dodgy aspects to the project?”

It shouldn’t sit well with the rest of us either. Pickens has gamed Texas for his own ends, and now he’s trying to game the rest of us, too. Worse, his gamesmanship includes lending his billionaire resources, prominent stature and feudal powers bestowed upon him by the Texas legislature to help the Greens gain control over the U.S. energy supply.

T. Boone Pickens, does he really care about YOU the Farmer??

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/4275059

Help make a difference

In this day and age, we as individuals, have access to so much information and knowledge.  We learn about the world we live in and what is wrong with it.  So much of the time we hear about problems in our society and going on with our planet, and we immediately want to do something to help.  The biggest problem with this is that our drive to make a change outlives our ability to find a way to help.  For example, it is simple to donate to a place like St. Jude Children's Hospital.  That is the link found after a simple Google search.  However, some of the projects that may require more immediate attention are harder to find, simply because they are not so well publicized.

One of the large problems facing this country as well as the world is the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, but there is a way to help and make a difference.

Get involved in your community and learn about the problems that we are facing.  The High Plains Water District has a large amount of information and knowledge about this crisis, and they are actively updating their information on their website.

People are taking notice and trying to make a change.  Like this petition on Change.org, Saving Ogallala, is being sent to the federal government.

This problem has been coming for a long time, and people have noticed.  Many years ago even like this article in Bloomberg Businessweek from 2008 titled, There Will Be Water.

Just because the information is not being pushed in your face daily by Fox News or MSNBC, doesn't mean that it is not a problem worth your attention.  We here at the OARS initiative urge you to reach out and speak out about this imminent problem that we are facing.