For decades, the heartland of America has been the breadbasket of the world. Unfortunately, those days will shortly come to an end. The central United States is rapidly drying up and dust bowl conditions will soon return. There are a couple of major reasons for this. Number one, the Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted at an astounding pace. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the entire world, and water from it currently irrigates more than 15 million acres of crops. When that water is gone we will be in a world of hurt. Secondly, drought conditions have become the "new normal" in many areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and other states in the middle part of the country. Scientists tell us that the wet conditions that we enjoyed for several decades after World War II were actually the exception to the rule and that most of time time the interior west is incredibly dry. They also tell us that when dust bowl conditions return to the area, they might stay with us a lot longer than a decade like they did during the 1930s. Unfortunately, without water you cannot grow food, and with global food supplies as tight as they are right now we cannot afford to have a significant decrease in agricultural production. But it is not just the central United States that is experiencing the early stages of a major water crisis. Already many other areas around the nation are rapidly developing their own water problems. As supplies of fresh water get tighter and tighter, some really tough decisions are going to have to be made. Fresh water is absolutely essential to life, and it is going to become increasingly precious in the years ahead.
Most Americans have never even heard of the Ogallala Aquifer, but the truth is that it is one of the most important bodies of water on the globe. It covers well over 100,000 square miles and it sits underneath the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota.
Water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer is used to water more than 15 million acres of crops. Without this source of water, the United States would not be the breadbasket of the world.
That is why what is happening right now is so alarming.
The following are 20 signs that dust bowl conditions will soon return to the heartland of America....
#1 The Ogallala Aquifer is being drained at a rate of approximately 800 gallons per minute.
#2 According to the U.S. Geological Survey, since 1940 "a volume equivalent to two-thirds of the water in Lake Erie" has been permanently lost from the Ogallala Aquifer.
#3 Decades ago, the Ogallala Aquifer had an average depth of approximately 240 feet, but today the average depth is just 80 feet. In some areas of Texas, the water is gone completely.
#4 Scientists are warning that nothing can be done to stop the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer. The ominous words of David Brauer of the Ogallala Research Service should alarm us all....
"Our goal now is to engineer a soft landing. That's all we can do."
#5 According to a recent National Geographic article, the average depletion rate of the Ogallala Aquifer is picking up speed....
Even more worrisome, the draining of the High Plains water account has picked up speed. The average annual depletion rate between 2000 and 2007 was more than twice that during the previous fifty years. The depletion is most severe in the southern portion of the aquifer, especially in Texas, where the water table beneath sizeable areas has dropped 100-150 feet; in smaller pockets, it has dropped more than 150 feet.
#6 According to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. interior west is now the driest that it has been in 500 years.
#7 It seems like the middle part of the United States experiences a major drought almost every single year now. Last year, "the drought of 2011" virtually brought Texas agriculture to a standstill. More than 80 percent of the state of Texas experienced "exceptional drought" conditions at some point, and it was estimated that about 30 percent of the wheat fields in Texas were lost. Agricultural losses from the drought were estimated to be $3 billion in the state of Texas alone.
#8 Wildfires have burned millions of acres of vegetation in the central part of the United States in recent years. For example, wildfires burned an astounding 3.6 million acres in the state of Texas alone during 2011. This helps set the stage for huge dust storms in the future.
#9 Texas is not the only state that has been experiencing extremely dry conditions. Oklahoma only got about 30 percent of the rainfall that it normally gets last summer.
#10 In some areas of the southwest United States we are already seeing huge dust storms come rolling through major cities. You can view video of a giant dust storm rolling through Phoenix, Arizona right here.
#11 Unfortunately, scientists tell us that it would be normal for dust bowl conditions to persist in parts of North America for decades. The following is from an article in the Vancouver Sun....
But University of Regina paleoclimatologist Jeannine-Marie St. Jacques says that decade-long drought is nowhere near as bad as it can get.
St. Jacques and her colleagues have been studying tree ring data and, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Vancouver over the weekend, she explained the reality of droughts.
"What we're seeing in the climate records is these megadroughts, and they don't last a decade—they last 20 years, 30 years, maybe 60 years, and they'll be semi-continental in expanse," she told the Regina Leader-Post by phone from Vancouver.
"So it's like what we saw in the Dirty Thirties, but imagine the Dirty Thirties going on for 30 years. That's what scares those of us who are in the community studying this data pool."
#12 Experts tell us that U.S. water bills are likely to soar in the coming years. It is being projected that repairing and expanding our decaying drinking water infrastructure will cost more than one trillion dollars over the next 25 years, and as a result our water bills will likely approximately triple over that time period.
#13 Right now, the United States uses approximately 148 trillion gallons of fresh water a year, and there is no way that is sustainable in the long run.
#14 According to a U.S. government report, 36 states are already facing water shortages or will be facing water shortages within the next few years.
#15 Lake Mead supplies about 85 percent of the water to Las Vegas, and since 1998 the level of water in Lake Mead has dropped by about 5.6 trillion gallons.
#16 A federal judge has ruled that the state of Georgia has very few legal rights to Lake Lanier, and since Lake Lanier is the main water source for the city of Atlanta that presents quite a problem.
#17 It has been estimated that the state of California only has a 20 year supply of fresh water left.
#18 It has been estimated that the state of New Mexico only has a 10 year supply of fresh water left.
#19 Approximately 40 percent of all rivers in the United States and approximately 46 percent of all lakes in the United States have become so polluted that they are are no longer fit for human use.
#20 Eight states in the Great Lakes region have signed a pact banning the export of water from the Great Lakes to outsiders - even to other U.S. states.
Unfortunately, it is not just the United States that is facing a shortage of fresh water in the near future. The reality is that most of the rest of the world is in far worse shape than we are. Just consider the following stats....
-According to the United Nations, the world is going to need at least 30 percent more fresh water by the year 2030.
-Global demand for fresh water tripled during the last century, and is now increasing faster than ever before.
-According to USAID, one-third of the people on earth will be facing severe or chronic water shortages by the year 2025.
-Of the 60 million people added to the cities of the world each year, the vast majority of them live in deeply impoverished areas that have no sanitation facilities whatsoever.
-It has been estimated that 75 percent of all surface water in India has been heavily contaminated by human or agricultural waste.
-Sadly, according to one UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a cell phone than to a toilet.
-Every 8 seconds, somewhere in the world a child dies from drinking dirty water.
-Due to a lack of water, Saudi Arabia has given up on trying to grow wheat and will be 100 percent dependent on wheat imports by the year 2016.
-Each year in northern China, the water table drops by an average of about one meter due to severe drought and overpumping, and the size of the desert increases by an area equivalent to the state of Rhode Island.
-In China, 80 percent of the major rivers have become so horribly polluted that they do not support any aquatic life at all at this point.
-In sub-Saharan Africa, drought has become a way of life. Collectively, the women of South Africa walk the equivalent of the distance to the moon and back 16 times a day just to get water.
It has been said that "water is the new gold", and unfortunately we are getting close to a time when that may actually be true.
Without water, none of us could survive for long. Just try not using water for anything for 12 hours some time. It is a lot harder than you may think.
We can't grow our food in a pile of dust. Unfortunately, many areas of the heartland of America are slowly but surely heading in that direction.
History tells us that it is only a matter of time before dust bowl conditions return to the central United States. We have used irrigation and other technologies to delay the inevitable, but in the end it cannot be stopped.
Let us hope that the return of dust bowl conditions can be put off for as long as possible, but let us also prepare diligently for the worst.
I live in the rain capital of North America, and it’s hard to consider water as a finite resource.
I went into a public washroom a few days ago and found that the cold water tap was broken and running continously. I told a staff about it when I left and he shrugged, “they know about it, it’s been like that for days.” I went there again today, and the water is still gushing. How many gallons have poured down that drain, all day and all night, over the past week??
So, to answer justwondering, I’d consider the coastal mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Remember, though, that just as Jon said our water is now radioactive.
Please come soon, Lord Jesus!
Yes, with all the due alarm over water shortages, we in all of the Dominion of Canada, not just in British Columbia, are very, very fortunate. I fear that if the U. S. of A. has the power (and its might conceivably could collapse, thank God!) it might attempt to coërce water-rich Canada. So, Vancouver Mark, do pray that Jesus come, but in the meantime be prepared to defend Canada against a thirsty (and bloodthirsty) U. S. of A.
You speak as if the same masters that run America aren’t already running Canada. Our dear leader has already signed the legislation authorizing US armed forces to take over, oh sorry I mean provide security, any time they perceive an emergency.
And so how exactly do you propose we prepare? Should Canadian patriot preppers be getting busy sharpening the ends of our hockey sticks and smearing the ends with a foul concoction of maple syrup, old sushi and poutine? We could tempt them close with Timbits, and then… then… then apparently Jerry will defend us!
Thanks, Jer!
Jerry, your a *******! you and your country would be the first ones to call on the USA for help. Oh that’s right, your country takes financial aid from us all the time. Canada is slang for white welfare state
If you live in Vancouver, please don’t be silly.
This is the reason many people soon move to the mountains. Waste contributes to crime and when an elderly woman hangs herself in a showerstall, hoods start breaking car windows, set fires, bomb basements and attack law enforcement. The crime is so bad that neighborhoods are really trashy.
Guess where the largest underground fresh water supply in the world is? Brazil. Guess who just bought over 100,000 acres there? The Bush family. Yes, the two ex-presidents. Hmmm.
Yeah this is the same silver/dow rise as in ’08. Only this time, their financial bandages won’t stop the bleed. Get prepared folks! I just built a coop for backyard kitchens and I’d advise fellow patriots do the same. You need to be prepared. Your family thinks you are crazy (like mine) but this can be chalked up as a fun project “for the kids.” I got the plans here
The fiat ponzi paradise will not be lasting for much longer for the sheeple! Endless credit and a laborless lifestyle will be gone. Did the average Joe really think paper is wealth? Wow, the government has done a beautiful job in brainwashing their citizens…
Those of us in the Midwest Corn Belt have known about the Ogallala Aquifer for a long time. It was used to grow corn in Nebraska, corn we did not need and had to subsidized. The key to it was the center point pivot irrigation system. It took much diesel field as well to run these pumps. We do the same thing in the Central Valley of California, use precious Sierra watershed run off to produce subsidized crops.
My grandmother moved from Illinois to Milford, Nebraska, in about 1876. They stayed there and tried to farm out of a sod house until about 1892 when the got dried out. They then moved to Acron. Colorado. for four years and lost everyting farming. During this period was the worst drought in modern history. They moved to Iowa in a covered wagon pennyless and quit farming and then came back to Normal, Illinois.
I drove through Amarillo, Texas, last summer and was saddened to see everything was lost from corn to cotton.
There needs to be more written about the Ogallala Aquifer.Another example of the apathy and ignorance of the American people today.
Solar Radiation Management couldn’t have anything to do with inducing drought, could it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radiation_management
“…Stratospheric sulfur aerosols: proposed by Paul Crutzen,[8] with the purpose to modify the Earth’s albedo with reflective or absorptive materials spread over portions of its surface. This would typically be achieved using hydrogen sulfide or sulfur dioxide, delivered using artillery, aircraft (such as the high-flying F15-C) or balloons.[8][14][15] [16] Ozone depletion is a risk of such techniques,[17] but only if high enough quantities of aerosols drift to, or are deposited in, polar stratospheric clouds before the levels of CFCs and other ozone destroying gases fall naturally to safe levels because CFCs can settle on larger sulfate particles, increasing their ozone destroying potential.[18] This proposal, not unlike the others, carries with it considerable risks, including increased drought[19] or acid rain.[20]…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radiation_management
Ozone depletion causes sunburn.
Gary2 is right, tax the Super rich hard. Only those with more money than brains would fund such an earth killing scheme.
Sunlight and co2 is the staff of life!
Living by the great lakes water is a non issue.
If you can stand the cold winters there is plenty of water. You can sink a well just about anywhere in WI and get water.
Don’t like drought–do not live in a dessert.
#20 Eight states in the Great Lakes region have signed a pact banning the export of water from the Great Lakes to outsiders – even to other U.S. states.
Thankfully this is true. Also Canada signed this also.
Fracking will only exacerbate the situation. If the water in the aquifer is poisoned it’ll be largely useless except for more fracking. Maybe that benefits the oil companies but what about regular people, the real human ones.
I recommend you do some research on “fracking” all of the processes associated with this procedure is in excess of 2000ft below the aquifer. To date no evidence has been presented to substantiate your claim. One other thing…how is that electric car doing…I presume you are driving one.
TS
Springsteen’s cover of ‘Blown Away’ on ‘The Seeger Sessions’ comes to mind – western Oklahoma, along with anything west of the 100th meridian, isn’t capable of sustained, water-intensive activity of any kind. Living in Michigan, i am awfully tempted to speculate in real estate, as we’ll be the new ‘go-to’ destination, real soon.
The Northeast has it’s littlest snowfall in almost 100 years. There will be lower aquifers this summer and water will be in demand. One of the reasons the city scares the hell out of me is imagine the water supply running out for LA or NYC? Chaos would kick in very quickly. http://www.shelter101.com/more-people-unemployed-as-poverty-increases-get-use-to-it.html
Essa preocupação já havia em 1950!
Estou com a publicação em mãos (original, papel).
Vide no Google Books:
Popular Mechanics 1950, april, p.122.
O link:
http://books.google.com.br/books?id=6NkDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=popular+mechanics+1950&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ei=IalOT5HZNqfr0gG_zKjAAg&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=popular%20mechanics%201950&f=false
His google translator didn’t work.
He said: This was already worried about in 1950.
I have the publication in hand (the paper original).
See it on Google Books
Popular Mechanics, 1950, April, page 122.
he gives the link.
Now my 2 cents – 1950? When was the U.N. created and for what reasons.
I wonder where Popular Mechanics got their information?
Now that I have read the Popular Mechanics article from 1950, my suspicions are confirmed – it was the U.S. Government ringing the alarm that the aquifers were drying up.
WHO CONTROLS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT PEOPLE?!!!!! – EVER SINCE 1913? AND WHAT IS THEIR OBJECTIVE?!!!!!!!!!!
WAKE UP!!!
DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR – ESPECIALLY FROM “tHEM”!!!!!
On a side note – What an interesting magazine Popular Mechanics was in 1950. What a dynamic and different country the U.S. was then.
All of it’s worth thumbing through, especially the first 50 or 60 pages which are advertisements. The only sad thing is that minorities were discriminated against.
You will think you’ve taken a trip to another planet.
You articulated that very well and I agree.
Its kind of interesting about the 30s drought. This time we have almost 3 times the people in the USA
Why is this surprising? In this era of global warming and massive human overpopulation, of course water would become even more precious – all those mouths to feed need that water to grow food. All them people driving them big SUV’s and “Mini” Vans provide lots of good pollution to keep that CO2 level high.
Think globally, act locally: if you bring a child into this, you’re dooming him to this collapsed economy. It *won’t* be different for them. It’ll be WORSE THAN IT IS FOR YOU.
The world of the future looks very unappealing. An aspect that is never discussed, as if it was taboo, is that there are too many people on the planet, sharing ever declining resources.The one child policy of China may not be so bad after all, but for most nations this would not work because they would become a nation of octogenarians, but China still will have a huge population of relatively young people.
This is being done intentionally with the elite’s weather war chemtrails, Haarp and any directed energy weapons they have. Depopulation!
never ever have I read such a bunch of chicken little drivel. Hope I spelled drivel right. CLD, CLD, CLD. You people have to be the most reactionary bunch of people I have ever read. Even if the sky is falling, I hope that I am not standing beside one of you when it does. Get a grip people. Change those things that you have control of, be aware of, but please quit sounding like chicken little regarding those things you have no control over.
Hey everyone, don’t bother worring about the water issue or the global warming thing or the food shortage scare or the population deal, economic colaps, nuclear war, ect.ect.
I’ave read ahead to the last chapter and…..EVERYONE DIES AND NO”BODY” GETS OUT ALIVE!
So forgetaboutit and heal your mind!
I farm. I irrigate and have used or been around
most methods of water application. Today farmers
use less water per crop grown than ever. I farm to make money, provide home for my family and I REALLY REALLY like what I do. The Ogallala is not leaving us like the story states. In Nebraska the water table level has increased in many areas and reduced in others. The story also does not tell about testing levels beyond parts per trillion for arsenic found in locations where towns have to find new water supplies. I hope you do not eat potatoes as arsenic is higher there than in the water. Just gov. watching out for you. Crop production is based on the same principles throughout history, yet in ten years methods and equipment change radically. Approx 2003 or 2004 South Central Nebraska had less rainfall than any time in the dirty 30′s. We did not blow away or dry up, will not entirely. Methods change and you adapt or you are gone. Gov. farm programs are history.
I like to eat and I produce a quality product, cheaper than any where in the world.
Test for “Roundup”…manure,fertilizer…then drink it.