High Plains Regional Ground Water (HPGW) Study
As part of the the NAtional
Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program,
the USGS is evaluating ground-water quality in the High Plains aquifer
system.
The High Plains aquifer system underlies 175,000 square miles in parts of eight
States (CO, KS, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, and WY) (figure
1). Approximately 27 percent of the irrigated land in the United States is
in the High Plains and about 30 percent of the ground water used for irrigation
in the U.S. is pumped from the High Plains aquifer. Irrigation withdrawals
in 2000 were 17 billion gallons per day. In 2000, 1.9 million
people were supplied by ground water from the High Plains aquifer with total
public-supply withdrawals of 315 million gallons per day.
The quality of water in the High Plains aquifer generally is suitable for irrigation use but, in many places, the water does not meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water standards with respect to several dissolved constituents (dissolved solids/salinity, fluoride, chloride, and sulfate). Only sparsely scattered water-quality data are available for pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and trace metals in the High Plains aquifer system. Nutrient data are available, to a varying degree, across the aquifer. Beginning in 1999 and continuing for a period of 6 years, the High Plains Regional Ground Water Study will intensively investigate the quality of ground-water resources within the study area. Investigations will begin in the Central High Plains and move to the Southern High Plains and Northern High Plains as the project progresses (figure 1). Water quality impairment coupled with water-level declines focus concern on the continued sustainability of this Nationally important ground-water resource.
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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
Page URL: http://co.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/hpgw/HPGW_home.html
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Page Last Modified: Friday, 16-Feb-2007 18:11:00 EST
