Aquifer
Ogallala Aquifer
The aquifer underlying the American High Plains, and the clearest large-scale example of groundwater mining: withdrawal has substantially exceeded recharge for decades, and parts of it will not recover on any human timescale.
Key facts
- Area
- approximately 450,000 km²
- States overlying
- 8
- Principal use
- Irrigation — supports around a fifth of US irrigated agriculture
- Recharge rate
- Very low; much of the stored water is effectively fossil
Why it matters
The Ogallala accumulated over millions of years and receives very little modern recharge across much of its extent, particularly in the southern High Plains. Centre-pivot irrigation from the 1950s onward drew it down by tens of metres in places. Where saturated thickness falls below the point at which high-capacity wells are viable, the land reverts to dryland farming — a transition already underway in parts of Texas and Kansas.
Relationships
- Located in: United States
Related intelligence
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Sources
- World Wildlife Fund / McGill University — HydroSHEDS / HydroRIVERS / HydroLAKES / HydroBASINS. Open — attribution required · CC BY 4.0
- Global Water System Project — Global Reservoir and Dam Database. Open — attribution required · CC BY 4.0
- Peer-reviewed scientific literature — Open-access hydrology, water chemistry and water use research. Public but restricted · Publisher terms — public access, reuse not clearly granted