2 ms·
Following the same logic, we should evacuate all the states that depend on the Ogallala aquifer, an aquifer that will be pumped dry in a couple of decades from
by 29athrowaway 6y ago
Following the same logic, we should evacuate all the states that depend on the Ogallala aquifer, an aquifer that will be pumped dry in a couple of decades from now.
Those states will become a desert: South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico.
- dehrmann 6y agoThe aquifer is mostly being pumped for agriculture, and there aren't any major cities over it. https://media.ruralradio.co/wordpress/2016/03/Ogallala-Aquifer.jpg https://media.ruralradio.co/wordpress/2016/03/Ogallala-Aquif... It also won't necessarily be "desert" when the aquifer is pumped dry. Best case, it looks more like the great plains and less like corn fields. Cheyenne gets 17 inches of rain per year, Amarillo gets 20 inches, so neither would be a desert.
- 29athrowaway 6y agoI think you may be underestimating the impact. Without the aquifer you cannot sustain the current crop yield, livestock headcount, many jobs would be impacted, and cost of living will rise. These phenomenons can have a cascading impact on other sectors of the economy... not only in the states sitting on top of the aquifer, but the entire country. Perhaps it will not be a literal desert, but it will be a desert for the purposes of agriculture.