Yes. And as a point of reference for the scales involved: > Since major groundwater pumping began in the late 1940s, overdraft from the High Plains Aquifer ha

Yes. And as a point of reference for the scales involved: > Since major groundwater pumping began in the late 1940s, overdraft from the High Plains Aquifer has amounted to 332,000,000 acre-feet (410 km3), 85% of the volume of Lake Erie. [1] > The Mississippi River passes more than 240 million acre-feet annually at the proposed point of diversion, 30 miles south of Cairo, Ill. During the current flooding, more than 4 million acre-feet per day are flowing at that spot… [2] The water in the Mississippi river could each year replace all 80 years of overpumping of the aquifer. So with 1-2% water diversion (like I said, not exhausting the river), you could easily substitute that volumetrically. For 5% you could massively irrigate the midwest. These are truly massive rivers. People in the west don't understand how enormous they are compared to the Colorado and other western rivers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer#:~:text=Since%20major%20groundwater%20pumping%20began,the%20volume%20of%20Lake%20Erie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer#:~:text=Since.... [2] https://coyotegulch.blog/2011/05/19/pipeline-from-the-mississippi-river-to-colorado/ https://coyotegulch.blog/2011/05/19/pipeline-from-the-missis...