Aquifer May Run Out in 50 Years

Nearly 70 percent of the groundwater stored in parts of the United States' High Plains Aquifer -- a vast underground reservoir that stretches through eight states, from South Dakota to Texas, and supplies 30 percent of the nation's irrigated groundwater -- could be used up within 50 years unless current water use is reduced, a new study finds. Researchers from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., conducted a four-year study of a portion of the High Plains Aquifer, called the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides the most agriculturally important irrigation in the state of Kansas, and is a key source of drinking water for the region.