Ogallala Blue: Water And Life On The Great Plains

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A story of a crucial, dwindling natural resource: an invisible ocean of fresh water under the High Plains. The Ogallala Aquifer that lies deep beneath the Great Plains from Texas to Colorado contains enough water to fill Lake Erie nine times! Every year five trillion gallons are pumped out for irrigation, and if (or when) the aquifer goes dry, $20 billion worth of food and fiber grown with that irrigation will disappear. William Ashforth tells the fascinating history of the Ogallala from its formation millions of years ago to glimpses of the future when the Great Plains could return to their Sahara Desert-like past.1 map

Paperback: 330 pages

Publisher: Countryman Press; Reprint edition (July 17, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0881507369

ISBN-13: 978-0881507362

Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #495,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #124 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Water Supply & Land Use #169 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Engineering > Civil & Environmental > Environmental > Water Quality & Treatment #259 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Nature Travel > Ecotourism

I was born in Valentine, Nebraska but I had only the vaguest knowledge of the Ogallala Aquifer that was underfoot. The events of Ancient Rome or Middle Earth of Tolkien (which never did exist, of course) were of greater reality to me than the buffalo and loons and prairie dogs that were around me all the time. Now that I am half a century old, I cry over the despoilation of that beautiful land and all of North America.Mr. Ashworth's book was really excellent! I found it exciting and informative, packed with numbers at times, and at other times full of drama. I think he captured most of the political and economic issues very well, and did a really excellent job of introducing us to the scientific issues.It is very hard to disentangle a review like this from the issue involved. The book is great, no doubt about it, but the issue is so gripping and heart-wrenching.My grandfather was a dryland cattle rancher in Cherry County from about 1915 until the 1960s. What would he think now? I remember the old wooden windmill on his ranch, pumping water into the round corrugated metal tank. I have so many fond memories of the sandhills -- looking for arrowheads in blowouts (mentioned in the book) with my dad as a kid... watching for trains, picking up garter snakes, seeing a "plague of frogs" after a summer rain (I kid you not!!! I drove over Highway 20 once evening in to Valentine, right over thousands of frogs that swarmed everywhere, including the highway. I didn't know what to do! I slowed down but that made the sounds all the more horrible. What terrible karma have I accumulated for myself on that fateful June evening so many years ago?)I think it is funny that today we spend extra money for chickens and cattle that are organic and free-range.

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