U.S. Water News Online
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Groundwater levels dropped by one to five feet between 2002 and 2003 in many heavily irrigated areas, according to a survey by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The information was culled from measurements taken at some 5,000 wells.
The lingering drought and recent legislation to prevent conflicts between groundwater and surface water users contributed to the declines, said Jim Goeke, a University of Nebraska hydrogeologist.
The study showed groundwater level changes in the High Plains aquifer that underlies much of Nebraska.
The most dramatic drops were in the heavily irrigated Platte, Republican, Loup, Blue and Elkhorn River basins.
Only the Sandhills and parts of southeast Nebraska showed little to no changes in groundwater levels between 2002 and 2003.
In the past 50 years, there has been significant recharge of the aquifer in parts of Dawson, Gosper, Phelps and Kearny counties, where rises of more than 50 feet have been recorded.
The aquifer in that area is estimated to contain four to five times the 1.75-million-acre-foot capacity of Lake McConaughy, said Mark Burbach, an assistant geoscientist at UNL.
Other significant rises in groundwater levels -- some as much as 50 feet -- have been recorded in Lincoln, Valley, Greeley, Sherman and Howard counties.
Water levels in aquifers underlying Nebraska have remained largely constant over the last 50 years, Burbach said.
The High Plains aquifer underlies more than 104 million acres of land in South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Return to the U.S. Water News Archives page Or Return to the U.S. Water News Homepage
Editor@uswaternews.com
*Your Name:
*Your Email:
*Friend's Email:
Use a comma to separate e-mail addresses:
*Your Comments:
Hi, I thought you might like to read this article.
*Required Fields