Irrigation habits threaten Kansas aquifer levels

The High Plains Aquifer is under risk of being depleted if current irrigation trends continue in Kansas, US. A new report has revealed that some 30 per cent of the groundwater from this vital source has already been pumped out and another 39 per cent will disappear within the next five decades.

Around 30 per cent of the irrigated groundwater in the US is supplied by the High Plains Aquifer, which runs under eight states within the Great Plains. The most recent research, performed by scientists at Kansas State University, focused upon the Ogallala aquifer, which is directly beneath Kansas.

It was found that only three per cent of the groundwater from the aquifer had been pumped out in 1960, which was before irrigation systems became commonly used by farmers in western Kansas. By 2010 around 30 per cent of the same aquifer had been tapped due to the implementation of huge irrigation systems. It is these systems that will further deplete the aquifer by 39 per cent in the next 50 years, meaning that by 2060 it will be completely empty.

The report, which was published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America', states that the reduction in available water supplies will have a deleterious effect upon food production and supplies over the next several decades.

However, reducing the amount of water that is pumped from the aquifer to around 20 per cent would sustain the groundwater levels for a longer period of time, even if it did affect the production of food in the short term. It is possible that reducing pumping activity could make the aquifer last until some time in the 2070s.

According to the researchers there has been no noticeable reduction in groundwater usage in Kansas, despite the implementation of stricter water policies. Many farmers are continuing to pump for their irrigation systems until a well goes completely dry. This is also not a problem faced by Kansas allow, as groundwater levels are depleting in many areas throughout the world. Current pumping habits do not reflect the long-term needs of the planet.