Public Lab Research note


Aquifers and Groundwater Sources

by TheChessGym | September 27, 2022 13:43 27 Sep 13:43 | #34999 | #34999

Today we learned about another important natural water resource, the aquifer. Aquifers are underground canteens of fresh water that has infiltrated permeable soil and porous rock sediment. This soil and sediment also can act as a natural filter of certain pollutants and harmful particles. Half of our parish relies on the Mississippi River as a natural water resource while the other parish depends on underground aquifers. In addition, some residents utilize private underground wells. The Ogallala Aquifer is the largest aquifer in the United States and one of the largest aquifers in the world. It is estimated that this freshwater resource can boast of containing over 978 trillion gallons of water! The Aquifer is also known as the High Plains Aquifer and portions of it extends to Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and South Dakota.


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The Ogallala is in Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. The Ogallala has been used for irrigation. If the Ogallala dried up, it could take six thousand years to fill back up. The negative impact on the U.S/Nebraska if the Ogallala didn’t exist would be tremendous. The depletion can affect cattle, the water can become salty for cattle. The depletion can affect more than $20 billion worth of food will disappear from the world's markets. It provides nearly all the water for residential, industrial, and agricultural use.

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Infiltration- action of entering or gaining access to an organism. Acquire access or cause damage. Aquifer- a body of permeable rock which can contain groundwater.
Groundwater- well held underground in the soil. Water cycle-constant movement of water. cycle of processes by which water circulates between the earth's oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow. Aeration- introduction of air into a material. Porous allows the body to maintain itself from presorting energy and the release of water through our bodies. Water is stored on the surface of the earth. Known as the oceans or clouds. Beneath the ground (soil and aquifers)
Eight states that Ogallala is: Wyoming, South Dacota, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma Colorado, and Nebraska. There are about 9 hundred and 78 trillion gallons of water. If the Ogallala dried up, it would take almost 6000 years to fill back up.

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The high plains aquifer is important because it is the largest aquifer in the United States. It holds 978,000,000,000 trillion gallons of water. And the aquifer lies under the states of Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. But recently the aquifer has been depleting more water than if feels up. This means that eventually the aquifer will eventually dry out. If this happens it will significantly impact the states. Economically it will affect the market of goods having a $20 billion impact on the food industry. The United States would also have to start importing more goods from overseas because of the aquifer’s drainage. In addition, to economic impacts the aquifer also has agricultural impacts as well. As states earlier the aquifer drying up will impact the food market limiting the amount of food the U.S. can produce.

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The 8 states that the Ogallala is located is Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, South Dakoda, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oklahoma. There is 978 trillion gallons of water underground, but it is being deprived extremely quickly. Ogallala is also known as high plane aquifer. If the Ogallala that is in the ground runs out there won’t be any water for the farmers to plant and grow food. It will also give the people that live in those states water to drink.

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Ogallala or the High Plains Aquifer is considered the largest aquifer in the world. An aquifer is a body of water that is contained underground by permeable rock layers. This aquifer is in Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. People are concerned about the Ogallala aquifer because more water is taken out than water going in it and it is a very important water source to many states. The primary use of the Ogallala aquifer in Nebraska is to provide water for residential, industrial, and agricultural use. If we continue this course, our biggest natural freshwater resource in America will deplete.

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