Texas Water Drought
The first step to solving any problem is realizing there is one. Amarillo and the rest of the Panhandle get its water from the Ogallala Aquifer which is a vast yet shallow underground water table located beneath the Great Plains that spans across portions of eight states including the northern tip of the Texas panhandle. A large portion of the irrigated land in the US rests atop this aquifer system, which yields about a third of the nation’s ground water used for irrigation. The Ogallala Aquifer is also responsible for providing drinkable water to almost all of the people who live within the aquifer boundary. This presents a problem because water is being consumed at a faster rate than it can be recharged naturally through rivers or rainfall. The unfortunate part is that once the water is consumed completely it will not be replenished fast enough to support the population who currently depend on it. This poses a threat because the loss of water in the Ogallala Aquifer will lend to the collapse of the central food production in America if something is not done. Additionally, once the water is gone and as long as there is no alternative plan to bring water into the areas that the Ogallala Aquifer feed into, the populations who depend on the Ogallala Aquifer’s water supply will be forced to relocate to new locations with a source of fresh water. The results of the aquifer drying up are not so far from home however. I read recently in an article that Happy, Texas’s population is getting smaller and smaller with less and less economic and agricultural business because some of their water wells no longer reach the aquifer anymore. This is forcing some of their citizens to seek employment outside the city up to an hour away. Many towns, including Amarillo, that rely on the Ogallala Aquifer will undoubtedly share the same fate as the faithful town of Happy, Texas at the rate water from the aquifer is being consumed. A possible solution to the water deficiency just here