Groundwater Watch
Groundwater Watch |
| High Plains Groundwater Network | ||||||||||||||||||||
Map generated 11/25/2009 10:04:37 AM
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| The High Plains Regional Groundwater Level Monitoring Network contains water levels and well information from selected wells measured annually by the USGS and numerous Federal, State, and local water-resources agencies. A network of about 9,000 wells was used to monitor water levels in the High Plains aquifer in 2007. This network consists of many smaller networks of wells measured by numerous agencies. State and local agencies are responsible for the majority of the water-level measurements. The water-level measurements were collected in winter or early spring when irrigation wells typically were not pumping and water levels generally had recovered from the stress of pumping during the previous irrigation season.
The High Plains aquifer underlies about 110 million acres (174,000 square miles) in parts of eight States—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. By irrigating crops with ground water from the High Plains aquifer, the area that overlies the High Plains aquifer has become one of the major agricultural regions in the world. However, the use of ground water has resulted in substantial water-level declines in parts of the aquifer. In response to the water-level declines in the High Plains aquifer, in 1986 the U.S. Congress authorized the USGS to cooperate with States in the High Plains region to monitor water levels throughout the High Plains aquifer and report the results to Congress. This is currently done through a biennial USGS High Plains water-level-monitoring report. For more information on the network and how water-levels have changed over time see the web site at http://ne.water.usgs.gov/ogw/hpwlms/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Department of the Interior |U.S. Geological Survey | Water Resources Discipline | Office of Groundwater
URL: http://groundwaterwatch.usgs.gov/Net/OGWNetwork.asp
Page Contact Information: OGW Webmaster
Last update: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 16:34
