Adam DaSilva
Unit 5
One of the most beautiful things about where I live is undisturbed nature, or maybe the thought of it. I do know one thing, if you disrupt the natural balances that nature created it could be devastating to the environment.
Irrigation in this part of the state is getting out of control. Irrigation leads to higher profits, but to at what, or whose expense? As you can see in the backgrounds of my pictures, everything that needs moisture is brown and now dormant. At the same time we are recording record breaking corn crops in our area and we have to “pile” it in huge piles all across our sales territory. Some of the bushels in my pictures are from dry land farmers, but most are from irrigation acres. You can also see one of three creeks that used to flow in this part, but have all dried up. It’s the only place where tree’s have actually token root and held. I talked to an old farmer whose parents farmsteaded here in the early 1900’s, and he said the creeks used to be full, that’s how everyone got their water, including the livestock. He also said that most trees got chopped down to build farm houses. Since the introduction of irrigation, it has forever changed this environment. No more running creeks, no more rain, no more water. There are numerous reports across this part of the state that wells have ran dry and people are having to bring water in by the truckloads.
A 200-bushel corn crop uses about 600,000 gallons of water — nearly 3,000 gallons per bushel. This is about what a circle of irrigated corn averages in bushels around here. The first time someone hears how much water corn requires, “they are usually very surprised. It seems excessive. But an acre of corn, during a hot July, can lose 7,000 or 8,000 gallons daily. Think about a 160-acre cornfield irrigated with only 10 inches of water. That would take more than 250,000 gallons per acre, or some 40 million gallons for the field.
When you start pumping water out of the ground it lowers your water table. When you lower your water table you cannot support water on top of the ground, which is why we don’t have streams or small lakes anymore. The aquifer was first tapped for irrigation in 1911. Directly under this part of the state is the Ogallala Aquifer. About 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States overlies this aquifer system, which yields about 30 percent of the nation's ground water used for irrigation. In addition, the aquifer system provides drinking water to 82 percent of the people who live within the aquifer boundary. While groundwater is a renewable source, reserves replenish slowly. The USGS estimated that total water storage was about 2,925 million acre feet in 2005. This is a decline of about 253 million acre feet, or 9%, since heavy irrigation began in the 1950s. The Ogallala will run out of water, and at the rate we’re going, soon. Scientists have estimated that it would take 6,000 years for the aquifer to naturally replenish itself, but we are taking water at much faster rates. Within the boundaries of the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District, the water level is dropping at 1.74 feet per year.
The U.S. Department of Ag has realized that there is a water problem, but they are way too late. They have placed restrictions on water usage, and are now offering incentives to stop irrigation. Irrigation leads to better yields, in turn leads to higher profits per acre. The cost of irrigation is lowering the water table. The higher the water table, the more running water you have. Rain makes moisture, moisture makes rain. It is a cycle in nature that we have disrupted and I believe that every effort has to made to get nature back on its cycle. Farmers here are starting to realize that with better farming practices you can still make your profit margin without irrigating. Through these pictures I have definitely realized that we can make a change to this environment by better water practices.
I can relate to Anita Schmidt blog pictures. If you look in the backgrounds of her pictures you can see all the green grass, nothing it dying or dormant. We also have the same aspect of pictures, of nature and our environment. I love the thought of Social Activism, and through these pictures there definitely needs to be a change in the way we think about water. I don’t know where she lives but you can see my backgrounds are dry and dead, hers are green and alive. Both blog pictures describe what I am, a worried consumer of water.
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