Abstract
The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 45 million ha, providing water for approximately 1.9 million people and supporting the robust agriculture economy of the US Great Plains region. The Ogallala Aquifer has experienced severe depletion, particularly in the Southern Plains states. This paper presents policy innovations that promote adoption of irrigation technology, and management innovations. Innovation in Kansas water policy has had the dual effects of increasing the authority of the state to regulate water while also providing more flexibility and increasing local input to water management and regulation. Technology innovations have focused on improved timing and placement of water. Management innovations include soil water monitoring, irrigation scheduling, soil health management and drought-tolerant varieties, crops, and cropping systems. The most noted success has been in the collective action which implemented a Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA), which demonstrated that reduced water pumping resulted in low to no groundwater depletion while maintaining net income. Even more encouraging is the fact that irrigators who have participated in the LEMA or other conservation programs have conserved even more water than their goals. Innovative policy along with creative local–state–federal and private–public partnerships are advancing irrigation technology and management. Flexibility through multi-year allocations, banking of water not used in a given year, and shifting water across multiple water rights or uses on a farm are promising avenues to engage irrigators toward more sustainable irrigation in the Ogallala region.
Highlights
Because the greatest decline in the Ogallala Aquifer has occurred in the Southern Plains states, and because Kansas has implemented policy innovations that are not available in Oklahoma and Texas, this paper will focus on Kansas, and show that policy innovations have played a critical role in accelerating adoption of technology and irrigation management innovations
Approval of water rights to private uses is the responsibility of the Chief Engineer of the Division of Water Resources in the Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) [18]
Evett et al [43] found that in field conditions that have layered soils, plants available soil water (PASW) is greater than that determined in laboratory conditions
Summary
The Great Plains region, where the aquifer is located, exhibits a strong precipitation gradient, decreasing from east to west, as well as pronounced temperature gradients, increasing from south to north and is vulnerable to projected climate changes [11]. Increased sustainability of irrigation in the region will require innovations in technologies and management systems to slow groundwater depletion [13,14]. The hypothesis of this paper is that innovations in policy are needed to accelerate adoption of more efficient irrigation technologies and management systems and slow the rate of aquifer depletion. Because the greatest decline in the Ogallala Aquifer has occurred in the Southern Plains states, and because Kansas has implemented policy innovations that are not available in Oklahoma and Texas, this paper will focus on Kansas, and show that policy innovations have played a critical role in accelerating adoption of technology and irrigation management innovations. Applicability of the demonstrated success of these innovations in slowing the rate of groundwater depletion to other parts of the Ogallala region as well as other irrigated regions will be discussed
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