In most of western Kansas, less than one inch of water seeps underground to recharge the aquifer each year. The declines were especially dire in southwest Kansas, where average water levels fell ...

AILSA CHANG, HOST: The Great Plains are the nation's breadbasket, but after decades of irrigating crops, the underground water that powers large-scale farming in western Kansas is quickly drying up.

ULYSSES, Kan. – In recent weeks, this oil-and-gas town of 6,000 has been looking into buying water — perhaps $190,000 worth of the stuff. The Ogallala aquifer, the vast underground pool that ...

Kansas overallocated water rights to the High Plains Aquifer throughout the 20th century. Now it must act to maintain what's left of its water supply.

If Kansas farmers keep pumping water out of the High Plains aquifer as they have in the past, the amount of water they can extract will start to fall in just 10 years or so, scientists predict.

Wilson crisscrosses western Kansas every January to measure wells and track the rapid decline of the Ogallala Aquifer, which contains the nation’s largest underground store of fresh water.

Circle of Blue WaterNews Weekly water news delivered directly to your inbox; The Stream Global water news delivered twice a week. Federal Water Tap Weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government ...

Nearly 70 percent of the groundwater stored in a portion of the High Plains Aquifer, an underground water reservoir, could be drained within 50 years, according to new research.

The Great Plains are the nation's breadbasket, but after decades of irrigating crops, the underground water that powers large-scale farming in western Kansas is quickly drying up. David Condos of ...

HAYS, Kan. — In increasingly dry western Kansas, underground water makes everything possible. Irrigation for crops. Stock water for cattle. Drinking water for towns. In all, the Ogallala Aquifer ...