by By Sarah Wyant
For most of my journalism career, which started in the 1980s, I’ve heard people expressing concerns about the Ogallala Aquifer running dry. After all, it was being tapped by more and more farmers who purchased huge center pivots for irrigating thirsty crops and municipalities which were attracting larger populations across the Great Plains—regardless of water availability.
It still seemed like an improbable scenario back then, given that the Ogallala Aquifer spans across 175,000 square miles in eight states—an underground lake the size of Lake Huron. But gradually, farmers, researchers and conservation groups started to take more notice about the possibility of depleting some parts of the aquifer. That was especially the case in 2023, as drought struck across many parts of the Plains.
Now, a new Nebraska-led study aims to shed more light on the economic impact of potential groundwater depletion and perhaps change the narrative surrounding the debate. First published in the journal Nature Water, it was led by Taro Mieno, assistant professor at the University of Nebraska and his colleague Nick Brozović, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brozović is also the director of policy at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute. Both had previously run simulations about how the aquifer responds to dry conditions.
Read more at High Plains Journal.
