'Adapt or die': Farmers in western Kansas consider alternative crops to save water

[NickB79]

https://hayspost.com/posts/b8f02d53-ef45-4721-9427-514fe88adc71

GRAY COUNTY — In dry western Kansas, the sound of artificial rain spraying from center pivot irrigation sprinklers fills the spaces between the small towns.

Irrigation has turned this region into a productive agricultural powerhouse, churning out millions of bushels of grain.

Heath Koehn farms with his dad near Montezuma over the Ogallala aquifer that supplies farmers with irrigation and communities with drinking water. He knows that changes are coming to the way they farm.

“Changes are going to have to be made with that aquifer. It’s like adapt or die,” Koehn said.

They get to be the first to experience the death of the Ogallalla, but they won't be the last.

[multigraincracker]

1. Hemp for fiber could save the forest.

[hatrack]

2. In 2024, parts of the Ogallala in western Kansas dropped by between 1.3 and 1.5 feet

Aquifer levels in parts of western Kansas that rely on groundwater for everything from drinking to irrigation fell more than a foot last year, Kansas Geological Survey scientists said Tuesday.

The Kansas Geological Survey earlier this month completed its annual campaign to measure the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies the western one-third of the state with water. The Ogallala, the largest underground store of freshwater in the nation, has been declining for decades because of overuse to irrigate crops in otherwise arid parts of the state.

According to preliminary data presented to the Kansas House Water Committee, aquifer levels in the groundwater management area covering southwest Kansas fell by 1.52 feet between January 2024 and this month, a larger drop than the 1.43-foot decline the year before. Western Kansas’ management area saw a half-foot decline, on par with the year before.

Northwest Kansas, which has been struggling with dry conditions, saw the aquifer decline 1.34 feet, a far more significant drop than the 0.47-foot drop between January 2023 and 2024. The figures are preliminary. The Kansas Geological Survey’s official report will be out in a few weeks, said Jay Kalbas, director of the survey.

EDIT

https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/28/ogallala-aquifer-drops-by-more-than-a-foot-in-parts-of-western-kansas/

Ed. As noted elsewhere, before modern center-pivot irrigation began, the Ogallala had roughly the same water volume as Lake Ontario. Collectively, pumping is equal to roughly the volume of the Colorado River, so this was pretty much a matter of time anyway.