pips@lemmy.film to News@lemmy.world · 2 years agoAmerica Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrowwww.nytimes.comexternal-linkmessage-square111fedilinkarrow-up1412arrow-down19
arrow-up1403arrow-down1external-linkAmerica Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrowwww.nytimes.compips@lemmy.film to News@lemmy.world · 2 years agomessage-square111fedilink
minus-squareErtebolle@kbin.sociallinkfedilinkarrow-up2arrow-down1·edit-22 years agoIt’s not like it’s getting zero rainfall, it’s just not getting enough to support its current levels of crop output; they were growing cereal crops in the Great Plains long before we figured out industrial-scale groundwater irrigation.
minus-squarehglman@lemmy.mllinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up6·2 years agoNo, the western plains requires irrigation. Plains as a biome exist because rainfall is marginal. https://waterforfood.nebraska.edu/-/media/projects/dwfi/resource-documents/reports-and-working-papers/past-present-and-future-of-irrigation-on-the-us-great-plains.pdf
It’s not like it’s getting zero rainfall, it’s just not getting enough to support its current levels of crop output; they were growing cereal crops in the Great Plains long before we figured out industrial-scale groundwater irrigation.
No, the western plains requires irrigation. Plains as a biome exist because rainfall is marginal.
https://waterforfood.nebraska.edu/-/media/projects/dwfi/resource-documents/reports-and-working-papers/past-present-and-future-of-irrigation-on-the-us-great-plains.pdf