Return of the Dust Bowl ? interesting read.

msb · Mar 7, 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html#

oj · Mar 7, 2011

Strangely enough I just read that too!

Howard H. · Mar 7, 2011

Not sure how they picked us for a story, but Dad helped build those elevators in Happy while a young man.

And Stratford is where we live now. It is "Dwayne Plunk", not "Wayne Plunk", by the way, too... ha...

Farming won't end - no matter if the Ogallala dries completely up or not. And the Dust Bowl won't return per se, because farmers out here can now use chemical to keep their ground clean - and rotate the crop fallow one year and in crop the next and be fairly assured of something of a dryland crop.

In other words, we can keep a ground cover on to keep it from ever blowing on the scale it did back in the Dust Bowl days.

And farmers WILL use all the water until it is no longer economically feasible. But every year is a different balancing act of grain prices versus pumping costs (energy), so things go up and down...

Thanks for the link!

Howard

GeneMO · Mar 8, 2011

I talked to a local last week who was buying a new corn planter. 20" rows. He says that the new "drought resistant" corn due out in a few years does best on 20" rows and he is planning ahead.

I haven't read up on it, but just telling what he told me.

Gene

teddy52food · Mar 8, 2011

It seems like every spring we hear of flooding someplace. My idea is to build water treatment or filtering plants to put water back underground.Not sure on how to pay for it. Any good ideas out there? Maybe a tax on the heavy users?

greenbeanman in Kansas · Mar 8, 2011

The Wichita, Kansas area is doing just that--recharging the aquifer by injecting water into it. I'm not fond of the idea for if it isn't done right it might pollute what is already their.

The Ogallala Aquifer is vast and in some areas has actually raised in levels in the last few years.

My thoughts are that it certainly needs protected. Example--for those states importing ethanol from Kansas---send us a tanker load of water back to be used in the production of more.

We export a lot of things from Kansas but water is one resource I'd like to see taken care of and used wisely.
Ogallala Aquifer as shown on a US map.

MarkB_MI · Mar 8, 2011

Teddy, most of the Ogallalah sits under land that's at least 2000 feet above sea level. Assuming that Crackpot Joe doesn't have a breakthrough anytime soon, the cost of pumping water uphill from the Mississipi is prohibitive.

MarkB_MI · Mar 8, 2011

It is unlikely that farming on the High Plains will end, but it's a matter of time before irrigated farming is a thing of the past. The most likely scenario is that all existing irrigated land will be converted to dryland crops or pasture. The real tragedy is that there may not be enough water to support the current population of the plains, and hundreds of small towns will vanish. There will be no chance to introduce light industry to these cities, since you can't manufacture anything without water.

teddy52food · Mar 8, 2011

If you look at the map, it shows the Missori river is close. Why would you pump it from Mississippi?

MarkB_MI · Mar 8, 2011

Teddy, most of the water in the US is east of the Mississippi. The most obvious source is the Great Lakes, and it relatively easy to divert water from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Then, yes you can get it to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, St. Louis. But St. Louis is at a mere 600 feet MSL. Not nearly high enough.

Now let's suppose you are able to divert water into the upper Missouri somehow. Let's check the elevations of some other cities on the Missouri:

Kansas City: 1000
Council Bluffs: 1000
Sioux City: 1200

Not high enough. Not when you need it at an elevation of around 3000 feet MSL.

RayP(MI) · Mar 8, 2011

If you were to divert water form the Great lakes, you'd put a heap of hurt on the economy of the great lakes states. Even a few feet lowering in the lake levels would put great lakes shipping, recreation, commercial fishing and other interests in real trouble. We've been dealing with declining lake levels for several years, and you're in for a good fight if you try to divert!

MarkB_MI · Mar 8, 2011

Ray, I'm well aware of the political ramifications of diverting even a few pints of water from the Great Lakes, let alone the millions of acre-feet needed to sustain farming in the High Plains. But I use the same argument to debunk claims by Michigan politicians that western states will "steal" our water: Yes, farmers in the west would love to have our water, but they'll never pay the cost of delivery.

Return of the Dust Bowl ? interesting read.

msb

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oj

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