Ogalalla Groundwater Quality "Generally Acceptable" For Drinking, Irrigation, Livestock - LJS

[hatrack]

Water produced by the Ogallala aquifer, which provides water to eight states including Nebraska, is generally acceptable for human consumption, irrigation, and livestock watering, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.

The study warns, however, that heavy use of water for irrigation and public supply and leakage down inactive irrigation wells are resulting in long-term gradual increases in concentrations of contaminants such as nitrate and dissolved solids from the water table to deeper parts of the aquifer where drinking-water wells are screened.

“This increase in contaminant concentrations over time has important implications for the long-term sustainability of the High Plains aquifer as a source of drinking water,” lead author Jason Gurdak said in a news release. “Once contaminated, the aquifer is unlikely to be remediated quickly because of slow rates of contaminant degradation and slow groundwater travel times in the aquifer; deep water in some parts of the aquifer is about 10,000 years old,” he said.

The Ogallala aquifer, also known as the High Plains aquifer, is the nation’s most heavily used ground water resource. The majority is used for irrigation, but nearly 2 million people also depend on the aquifer for drinking water. The eight states that use water from the aquifer include: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. Nebraska hosts the largest segment and square mileage of the water source. USGS scientists analyzed water for more than 180 chemical compounds and physical properties in about 300 private domestic wells, 70 public-supply wells, 50 irrigation wells, and 160 shallow monitoring wells sampled between 1999 and 2004.

EDIT

http://journalstar.com/news/nebraska/doc4a63aa739907d614881366.txt

[damntexdem]

1. A legacy from the Ice Age melt off.

Quickly being depleted and polluted. After that, much of the western half and Nebraska and on down will become uninhabitable.

[depakid]

2. Basically "fossil water"

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Better hurry and use it up then.

:sarcasm: :eyes:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I grew up drinking that water.. it was pure and clean..

I went back home several years ago, and it tasted different. They had started to have to add chemicals to it, and the concentrations of fert. seepage had gone way up.
:(