ApatheticNoMore
3-8-11, 2:04am
I 'm posting this just because it's new info for me, stuff I've never heard of before (I'm not sure what rock I've been living under all my life :)). So maybe you'll also find it interesting.
I read this (rather alarmist, hyperbolic) article (and you know how unreliable some British newspapers can be)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html
But it was just alarmist enough to stir enough interest to google for things more reliable.
Apparently:
- About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies the Ogallala aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. It supports nearly one-fifth of the wheat, corn, cotton, and cattle produced in the United States. It lies under parts of: Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.
- This land is naturally semi-arid and is being irrigated from this aquifer. It is not relying just on rainfall harvest for irrigation
- This aquifer is being depleted, less rain replenishes it than is being pumped out
- It is estimated to last from several decades to 60 years before it is depleted (on the plus side at least most of us will be dead then ;))
- This is also happening to groundwater all over the world
Who knew? I mean I understand water politics, but I thought they were mostly confined in the U.S. to California and it's pumping of the Colorado river. I didn't' know they were much more widespread than this. So CA is not the only dry agricultural climate requiring unsustainable water. I've seen the aqueducts which stretch this state, I've never looked (or even knew to look) for signs of the Ogallala from a plane.
So we're pumping out an aquifer at much higher rate than the rate of replenishment and we wonder if that's sustainable :|(. Now water doesn't just disappear, it comes down again as rain, goes into the oceans etc.. So in theory it could be replaceable, but if it goes into the oceans etc. it then requires desalinization I suppose (and then transport depending on where it is going I guess)? Plus of course water is also being polluted including even this aquifer (from farming etc..). Peak EVERYTHING .....
sources:
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Ogallala-Aquifer.html#ixzz1FzCd9f2T
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer
http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/3scisay2.html
I read this (rather alarmist, hyperbolic) article (and you know how unreliable some British newspapers can be)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html
But it was just alarmist enough to stir enough interest to google for things more reliable.
Apparently:
- About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies the Ogallala aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. It supports nearly one-fifth of the wheat, corn, cotton, and cattle produced in the United States. It lies under parts of: Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas.
- This land is naturally semi-arid and is being irrigated from this aquifer. It is not relying just on rainfall harvest for irrigation
- This aquifer is being depleted, less rain replenishes it than is being pumped out
- It is estimated to last from several decades to 60 years before it is depleted (on the plus side at least most of us will be dead then ;))
- This is also happening to groundwater all over the world
Who knew? I mean I understand water politics, but I thought they were mostly confined in the U.S. to California and it's pumping of the Colorado river. I didn't' know they were much more widespread than this. So CA is not the only dry agricultural climate requiring unsustainable water. I've seen the aqueducts which stretch this state, I've never looked (or even knew to look) for signs of the Ogallala from a plane.
So we're pumping out an aquifer at much higher rate than the rate of replenishment and we wonder if that's sustainable :|(. Now water doesn't just disappear, it comes down again as rain, goes into the oceans etc.. So in theory it could be replaceable, but if it goes into the oceans etc. it then requires desalinization I suppose (and then transport depending on where it is going I guess)? Plus of course water is also being polluted including even this aquifer (from farming etc..). Peak EVERYTHING .....
sources:
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Ogallala-Aquifer.html#ixzz1FzCd9f2T
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer
http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/3scisay2.html