Ground-water resources of Greeley and Wichita counties, Western Kansas

Slagle, Steven E.; Weakly, Edward C.

doi:10.3133/ofr75557

Cited by 3 publications

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“…The climate is semiarid, but the county is located near the moist continental climate boundary zone where annual precipitation (46 cm average) is highly variable (Thornthwaite 1941; Rosenberg 1986; NCDC 2003). Precipitation and access to groundwater are the limiting factors for production agriculture, municipalities, and industries (Prescott, Branch, and Wilson 1954; Slagle and Weakly 1976). Irrigation utilizing groundwater did not begin until 1938, when three wells were drilled and 300 acres were irrigated (USDA 1965).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A 1954 investigation of groundwater resources in Wichita County indicated that under the rates of precipitation, recharge, and groundwater withdrawal at that time, virtually no groundwater was being taken from storage and there was no danger of lowering the water table below the economic limit of use (Prescott, Branch, and Wilson 1954). A subsequent study in 1976 reported that groundwater depletion had become excessive, and that “‘dry‐land’ farming probably [would] be practiced once again in large parts of the area in the not‐too‐distant future” (Slagle and Weakly 1976, 17). By 1980 water availability from the Ogallala Formation had declined by 30 to 50 percent in sections of Wichita County (Dunlap 1980), and by 2000 some sections of the aquifer were effectively exhausted (Buchanan and Buddemeier 2001).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Groundwater Depletion and Agricultural Land Use Change in the High Plains: A Case Study from Wichita County, Kansas*

Kettle

Harrington

2007

The Professional Geographer

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Shifts in resource availability and resulting land use changes are important research themes for coupled human and natural systems and human dimensions of global environmental change. This study examines the relationship between groundwater depletion and agricultural land use change within a single county in the High Plains, where agro‐economic systems and populations are dependent on access to reliable groundwater supplies. Results indicate a significant relationship between high proportionate decreases in groundwater and land being removed from irrigation. This case study strengthens the links among local, regional, and global environmental change, and contributes to a greater understanding of the High Plains in the context of regional sustainability and vulnerability concerns.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Groundwater Depletion and Agricultural Land Use Change in the High Plains: A Case Study from Wichita County, Kansas*

Kettle

Harrington

2007

The Professional Geographer

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Maps showing saturated thickness, January 1979, and percentage decrease in saturated thickness, 1950-79, of unconsolidated aquifer, west-central Kansas

Pabst¹

1979

Open-File Report

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Maps showing the saturated thickness in 1979 and the percentage decrease in saturated thickness from 1950 to 1979 are intended to illustrate existing conditions in the unconsolidated aquifer and the continuing decrease of ground water in storage. This report is the second in an annual series of publications prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1. The principal aquifer in west-central Kansas consists mostly of saturated sand and gravel of Miocene age (Ogallala Formation) and Pleistocene age (undifferentiated deposits). The main body of this groundwater reservoir is designated as the unconsolidated aquifer. About 1,860 square miles of the area, as shown within the aquifer boundary, are underlain by sufficient saturated material to supply ground water for irrigation. Saturated thickness ranges from less than 50 feet to about 270 feet. In the remainder of the area, except for isolated areas, the saturated material is thin and yields little or no water to wells. The map showing saturated thickness of deposits in the unconsolidated aquifer (pi. 1) was contoured by superimposing maps showing the altitude and configuration of the underlying bedrock surface and the potentiometric (waterlevel) surface in the unconsolidated aquifer in January 1979. Thickness of saturated deposits in the unconsolidated aquifer within the area of the Western Kansas Groundwater Management District has decreased as a result of groundwater withdrawals by wells, principally for irrigation. From 1950 to 1979, the decrease in saturated thickness was negligible in some areas and as much as 80 feet in other areas. The greatest decreases generally coincided with areas where irrigation wells were concentrated.

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Geohydrologic data from sandstone aquifers in southwestern Kansas

Kume¹,

Spinazola²

1982

Open-File Report

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Boundary of I ° ° o o 8,00 0^X2> study area-l North Q ^ ^ TOT 0 eft* Chloride (Cl) 250 Fluoride (F) ' 1.5 Nitrate (NOs) 45 Water levels in wells that typify the seasonal fluctuations and longterm trends in some places in the sandstone aquifers are available in table 6 and several published reports. For Hodgeman and northern Ford Counties, water levels in wells in the Dakota Formation are given by Lobmeyer and Weakly (1979). Water-level records during 1966-70 are available from Broeker

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Ground-water resources of Greeley and Wichita counties, Western Kansas

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Groundwater Depletion and Agricultural Land Use Change in the High Plains: A Case Study from Wichita County, Kansas*

Groundwater Depletion and Agricultural Land Use Change in the High Plains: A Case Study from Wichita County, Kansas*

Maps showing saturated thickness, January 1979, and percentage decrease in saturated thickness, 1950-79, of unconsolidated aquifer, west-central Kansas

Geohydrologic data from sandstone aquifers in southwestern Kansas

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