The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with many state, local, and federal water-resources entities, has compiled water levels from wells completed in the eight-state High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer since 1987.
The latest report presents water-level changes and change in recoverable water in storage from predevelopment (about 1950) to 2019 and from 2017 to 2019 in the nation’s largest aquifer. The water levels in the more than 8000 wells used in this report generally were measured in winter or early spring, when irrigation wells typically were not pumping, and after water levels had generally recovered from pumping during the previous irrigation season.
The report shows that groundwater levels declined several feet in the last two years in the Texas Panhandle and southwest Kansas. In eastern Nebraska, by comparison, groundwater levels rose a couple feet due to wetter weather. Click here to read the report.