Aquifer sources are not considered high quality water for irrigation because of
their salinity but fossil water from limestone contains the minerals that made us human. In my home state of
South Dakota some eight million acres are salt-impacted due to seawater intrusion,
fertilizer and other soil amendments, irrigation with saline water and roadway deicer applications.
However, for the balance of this winter, consistent above-normal moisture has a low probability of occurring in the Western Corn Belt, with a strong influence from the current El Nino Pacific Ocean temperature pattern, USDA Midwest Climate Hub Director Dennis Todey told a recent NOAA regional forecast webinar. "This is something that people should be monitoring and working with and looking ahead to if we should continue our situation," Todey said. "Because we don't expect with the El Nino that there would be widespread major precipitation that would fix the situation." [Ag Weather Forum: Driest Western Corn Belt in a Lifetime]
Soils are worn out from decades of pesticides,
poor farming practices and manufactured fertilizers. Shallow wells and waterways suffer impairment from nitrate pollution making water less available especially where
aquifer levels are dwindling.
Current research at SDSU seeks to identify salt-impacted soils and jumpstart the self-recovery process. Salt-impacted soils have economic impacts as rangeland forage production and agricultural crop yields decrease. Annually, the projected loss in worldwide crop production is estimated at $27.3 billion. In the South Dakota counties of Beadle, Brown and Spink counties, the loss from salt-impacted soils is estimated at $26.2 million per year. [Remediating salty soils]
Today, the Ogallala or High Plains Aquifer is being depleted six and a half times faster than its recharge rate and nearly all the groundwater sampled from it is
contaminated with uranium and
nitrates from industrial agriculture.
No comments:
Post a Comment