Seirer_180328_8501125.jpgWaiting In early spring, a center-pivot irrigation system stands ready to water a yet-to-be-planted summer corn crop in central Nebraska, near Blue Hill. The irrigation system will draw water from the Ogallala aquifer, a vast underground water source that extends across 174,000 acreas in eight states of the High Plains. Nebraska is at the heart of this groundwater richness. Here, the water is deepest and most expansive, but the aquifer overall is being depleted by more than 200,000 wells, most of them drawing water for crops.

In early spring, a center-pivot irrigation system stands ready to water a yet-to-be-planted summer corn crop in central Nebraska, near Blue Hill. The irrigation system will draw water from the Ogallala aquifer, a vast underground water source that extends across 174,000 acreas in eight states of the High Plains. Nebraska is at the heart of this groundwater richness. Here, the water is deepest and most expansive, but the aquifer overall is being depleted by more than 200,000 wells, most of them drawing water for crops.