Water Scarcity on the Texas High Plains: The Ogallala Aquifer

This short documentary provides a glimpse into an unusually important, and long-running research and demonstration project, called the Texas Coalition for Sustainable Integrated Systems Research (TeCSIS) and the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) that started with a grant from SARE to form TeCSIS. This combined project (TeCSIS/TAWC) involves scores of scientific researchers, educational institutions, government agencies, and local area farmers (producers) that are trying to find answers to extend the life of the aquifer, and promote more sustainable, economic viability for this invaluable agricultural region.

To read the accompanying post, please visit:
http://cookingupastory.com/water-scarcity-on-the-texas-high-plains-the-ogalla...

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• drought
• freshwater
• integrated livestock systems
• monocultures
• ogallala aquifer
• production agriculture
• sare
• southern high plains of texas
• tecsis
• texas
• texas tech
• water
• water scarcity
• west texas
• food stories
• Food

[olov244]

i can't wait till more people see that monocultures are bad in so many ways, it kills the soil, then the soil doesn't absorb water as well, then the soil doesn't have the nutrients, then the plants are weak, etc. it may be more work, but it costs less

[cookingupastory]

@olov244 Pay attention to nature and you'll see an ecosystem where each element plays an important part. Much the same thing with these integrated systems, I believe. The soil cannot thrive by way of a monoculture, as you state.

[blismwithmyblizblop]

This is such a good video. I neve knew that aquifers were like this.

[cookingupastory]

Before this project, I had no clue either, @blismwithmyblizblop . Like a majority of people (so it seems), I thought it was like an underground lake. I love how she explained it - filling a coke bottle with rocks and gravel, etc., at 4:47. Now it makes sense!

[WATRnews]

Good job!

[cookingupastory]

@WATRnews Thank you!

[raininginhell]

Farmers need to start planting more Sorghum acres. Sorghum uses only a fraction of the water of other crops and matures at a very rapid rate. It also helps put vital nutrients back into the soil. Sorghum also does not have any gluten so it's more versatile for feeding more people in general.

[cookingupastory]

@BigHeadFarm Thanks!

[BigHeadFarm]

Nicely done.