High Plains Water-Level Monitoring Study

Water Development

Since the late 1880s, farming has been the dominant industry in the High Plains area and, in some of the area, farmers have irrigated using ground and surface water. For example, in the late 1800s, some farmers were irrigating crops using surface water diverted from the Platte and Arkansas Rivers and some were irrigating crops using shallow groundwater pumped to the surface by windmills. Through the early 1940s, depth to water in the aquifer and the slope of the land surface were major factors controlling the distribution of irrigated acres. By the early 1960s, technological advances in pumps allowed irrigation in areas with deeper (greater than 100 feet below land surface) groundwater, and the development of center-pivot irrigation systems in the 1970s allowed irrigation on rolling terrain. See USGS Professional Paper 1400B for further information on the history of water development in the High Plains area.

Land Use

Land-cover classification for the High Plains area. Click on image for larger version.

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Land-cover classification for the High Plains area. Classified from nominal 1992 Landsat imagery.

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Current land use:
55.6 percent rangeland
40.9 percent agricultural
3.5 percent a combination of wetlands, forest, urban, water, land barren lands

Agricultural Lands:
53 percent rowcrops (such as sorghum, corn, and cotton)
33 percent small grains (mostly wheat)
14 percent pasture, alfalfa, and fallow lands

Groundwater

Predevelopment water-table altitude and direction of groundwater flow in the High Plains aquifer. Click on image for larger version.

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Predevelopment water-table altitude and direction of groundwater flow in the High Plains aquifer. From Gutentag and others, 1984.

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Water table:
The upper boundary of the High Plains aquifer at predevelopment

Water Table Altitude:
Ranges from about 6,000 to 1,200 feet above NGVD 29.

Groundwater flow direction:
Generally from west to east and locally toward streams.

Average groundwater flow velocity:
About 1 foot per day (Gutentag and others, 1984).

Crops grown in the High Plains area are a substantial percentage of the total crop production for the United States. In 1997, crops grown in the High Plains area accounted for 19 percent of the wheat, 19 percent of the cotton, 15 percent of the corn, and 3 percent of the sorghum. In addition, the High Plains area accounts for about 18 percent of total cattle production and an increasing percent of total swine production in the United States (USDA Census of Agriculture).