Ogallala Aquifer Program research featured in journal

The Ogallala Aquifer Program (OAP) was featured in the December 2017 issue of the Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, a publication of the Universities Council on Water Resources. The issue’s theme is addressing irrigation aquifer depletion in the Ogallala Aquifer, and Dr. Kevin Wagner, the Oklahoma Water Resources Center director and former deputy director of the Texas Water Resources Institute, is the issue editor.

The OAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), is a research-education consortium seeking solutions from problems arising from declining water availability from the Ogallala Aquifer in western Kansas and the Texas High Plains. The consortium is led by the ARS laboratories in Bushland and Lubbock, Texas. University partners are Kansas State University, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Service, Texas Tech University and West Texas A&M University.

Ogallala Aquifer 101: an overview of current research projects on this groundwater giant

Stretching from Texas to South Dakota, the Ogallala Aquifer is the largest underground water reservoir in the United States.

It covers 174,000 square miles in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Although the Ogallala is a major source of water for agricultural, municipal and industrial development, it is also being depleted as withdrawals exceed recharge. Multiple research and outreach efforts are working to ensure the sustainable use of these groundwater resources.