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water-level Changes in the High Plains Aquifer,
Predevelopment to 2002, 1980 to 2002, and 2001 to 2002
—By W.L. McGuire
The High Plains aquifer underlies one of the major agricultural regions in the world, including parts of eight states—Colorado,
Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. In the 104.5 million-acre area overlying the High
Plains aquifer, not including areas with
little or no saturated thickness (fig. 1), the 106° 1050 104° 103° 102° 101° 100° 999 989 97° 96°
| | I I I I
total number of acres irrigated with ground -1
water increased rapidly after 1940. Irri- WYOMING zº SOUTHDAKOTA
gated acres comprised 2.0 percent of the 439 -
aquifer area in 1949, 13.1 percent in 1980,
and 13.3 percent in 1997–(Heimes and
Luckey, 1982; Thelin and Heimes, 1987; 429
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1999).
Water-level declines started to occur in the
High Plains aquifer soon after the begin-
ning of extensive ground-water irrigation.
The water-level declines in the High Plains
aquifer occur because of an imbalance
between discharge, the largest component 40° -
of which is ground-water withdrawals for
irrigation, and recharge, which is primar- & -
ily from precipitation. By 1980, water 39° - ==== KANSAS
levels in the High Plains aquifer in parts º
of Texas, Oklahoma, and southwestern
Kansas had declined more than 100 feet
(Luckey and others, 1981).
Water-level declines may result in
increased costs for ground-water with-
drawals because of increased pumping
lift and decreased well yields. Water-level
declines also can affect ground-water
availability, surface-water flow, and ripar-
ian areas. In response to the water-level
\,
** * -
N
419
& FPUBLITAN
S
-
-
º
&
- - -
OKLAHOMA
| | || EXPLANATION
WATER-LEVEL CHANGE,
- - - - - | - -- - || - IN FEET
declines in the High Plains aquifer, the Jº Declines
--- - - - More than -150
U.S Geological Survey, in cooperation .L NEWMEXICO º = ". º
with numerous Federal, State, and local 35 -it- | -50 to -100
water-resource agencies, began monitoring ...H. - k -25 to -50
more than 7,000 wells in 1988 to assess -- I -10 to -25
the annual water-level change in the aqui- sº HIGH TEXAS No Substantial Change
fer. The purpose of this report is to present PLAINS +10 to -10
- - - AQUIFER - -
water-level changes in the High Plains BOUNDARY c Rises
aquifer from the time prior to substantial | N – ! . .
- - - 33° -
ground-water irrigation development More than 50
(about 1950, which is termed “predevel- -- I º ;: Area of little or no
-- - - N– M. Saturated thickness
opment” in this report) to 2002, 1980 to 0 50 100 MILES || — Faults--U, upthrown side
o - -
2002, and 2001 to 2002. The water-level 32 N —- – County line
- - 0 50 100 KILOMETERS L.L.”
measurements used in this report were ==l | | | l l l
collected 1n W1mter Or early Spring when Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, 1:2,000,000
irrigation wells generally were not pump- Albers Equal-Area projection, ... - -
- - Standard parallels 29°30' and 45°30', central meridan -101
ing and when water levels generally had
recovered from the stress of pumping Figure 1. Water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer, predevelopment to 2002
during the previous irrigation season. (modified from Luckey and others, 1981 McGuire and others, 2003).
U.S. Department of the Interior 6.9 - Fact Sheet 2004–3026
U.S. Geological Survey Printed on recycled paper April 2004







106° 105° 104° 103° 102° 101° 100° 99° 98° 97°
I I I I -
º º SOUTHDAKOTA
- - _3 -
|
WYOMING
43°
\,
- - - - -
Lº §: OKLAHOMA
EXPLANATION
—ºver WATER-LEVEL CHANGE,
IN FEET
- Declines
|| || 5 _ More than -60
- I -40 to -60
-20- to -40
k -10 to -20
-5 to -10
TEXAS
35°
HIGH
PLAINS
AQUIFER -
BOUNDARY
34° No Substantial Change
+5 to -5
Rises
5 to 10
10 to 20
20 to 40
More than 40
50 100 - Area of little or
- MILES - º no saturated thickness
o -
32 Faults--U, upthrown side
* 100 * TERS l County line |
*
3.
º
–
Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, 1:2,000,000
Albers Equal-Area projection
Standard parallels 29°30' and 45'30", central meridan -101"
Figure 2. Water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer, 1980 to 2002.
The water-level-change maps and related area-weighted aver- the size of each polygon depends on the proximity of neighbor-
age water-level change values in this report were prepared using ing wells. The predevelopment to 2002 and 1980 to 2002 area-
two methods. The maps of water-level changes, predevelopment weighted average water-level changes were computed for each
to 2002 (fig. 1) and 1980 to 2002 (fig. 2), show contours of comparison period by summing the areas within the manual
water-level-change ranges, which were drawn manually based contours of water-level change multiplied by the value of the
on predevelopment, 1980, and 2002 water levels from available mid-point of the contour interval and dividing the result by the
wells, contours of water-level changes from previous reports total area. The 2001 to 2002 area-weighted average water-level
(Luckey and others, 1981; McGuire and others, 2003), and pre- change was computed by summing the area of each Theissen
development and recent water-table maps, if available. The map polygon times the actual water-level change value associated
of generalized water-level changes, 2001 to 2002 (fig. 3), shows with the Theissen polygon and dividing the result by the total
computer-generated Thiessen polygons (Thiessen, 1911) colored area.
by the water-level-change range. Thiessen polygons apportion
the water-level change in each well to an area around the well;





1069 105° 104° 103° 1029
|
1010
I
100° 99° 989 970 96°
I I
SOUTH DAKOTA
400
N-4&
*Q-7A …
SysAs
|
KANSAS
EXPLANATION
ºl. THEISSEN POLYGONS FOR
|ºs. WATER-LEVEL CHANGE,
IN FEET
I Declines
More than -5
-3 to -5
-1 to -3
No Substantial Change
+1 to -1
Rises
1 to 3
3 to 5
_ More than 5
š Area of little or no
saturated thickness
— Faults--U, upthrown side
- County line
Base from U.S. Geological Survey digital data, 1:2,000,000
Albers Equal-Area projection
Standard parallels 29°30' and 45°30', central meridan -101"
--~
Figure 3. Generalized water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer, 2001 to 2002.
WATER-LEVEL CHANGES, PREDEVELOPMENT
T0 2002
The map of water-level changes in the High Plains aquifer
from predevelopment to 2002 (fig. 1) is based on water levels
from 3,860 wells (table 1). Ninety-nine percent of water-level
changes from predevelopment to 2002 in the 3,860 wells used
Were between a rise of 39 feet and a decline of 167 feet. The
area-weighted average water-level change across the High
Plains aquifer, not including the areas with little or no saturated
thickness, was a decline of 12.1 feet (table 2). About 24 percent
of the aquifer area, not including the areas with little or no
Saturated thickness, had more than 10 feet of water-level decline
from predevelopment to 2002. Large areas with more than
50 feet of water-level decline occurred in Southwest Kansas,
east-central New Mexico, the central part of the Oklahoma
Panhandle, and the western part of the Texas Panhandle.
WATER-LEVEL CHANGES, 1980 TO 2002
Ninety-nine percent of all water-level changes from 1980 to
2002 in the 4,746 wells used were between a rise of
30 feet and a decline of 81 feet. The area-weighted average
water-level change across the High Plains aquifer, not includ-
ing the areas with little or no saturated thickness, was a decline
of 4.0 feet (table 2). About 20 percent of the aquifer area, not










including the areas with little or no saturated thickness, had
more than 5 feet of water-level decline from 1980 to 2002.
Large areas with more than 40 feet of water-level decline
occurred in southwest Kansas, east-central New Mexico, the
central part of the Oklahoma Panhandle, and the western part of
the Texas Panhandle.
WATER-LEVEL CHANGES, 2001 TO 2002
Ninety-nine percent of water-level changes from 2001 to
2002 in the 7,998 wells used were between a rise of 7 feet and a
decline of 9 feet. The area-weighted average water-level change
across the High Plains aquifer, not including the areas with little
or no saturated thickness, was a decline of 0.6 foot (table 2).
Water-level declines occurred over most of the aquifer, exclud-
ing the parts of the aquifer with little or no saturated thick-
ness, but water-level rises greater than 3 feet occurred in parts
of northeastern Nebraska, the Texas Panhandle, and western
Oklahoma (fig. 3).
CHANGE IN WATER INSTORAGE, PREDEVELOPMENT
TO 2002
Because the High Plains aquifer is generally unconfined, the
change in water in storage in the High Plains aquifer can be esti-
mated using the water-level change maps (figs. 1, 2, and 3) and
the average specific yield of the aquifer in each State (Gutentag
and others, 1984). Specific yield is an estimate of the volume of
water that a volume of the aquifer will yield by gravity drain-
age (Lohman, 1979). Total water in storage in the aquifer in
2002 was estimated to be 2,970 million acre-feet. The water in
storage declined about 200 million acre-feet from predevelop-
ment to 2002, about 67 million acre-feet from 1980 to 2002, and
about 10 million acre-feet from 2001 to 2002 (fig. 4, table 3).
This method for calculating the change in water in storage will
overestimate the change in storage in local areas if the aquifer
reflects confined conditions at the start of the time period and
unconfined conditions later.
Table 1. Number of wells measured and used in this report for 2002
water levels and number of wells used for the water-level comparison
periods—predevelopment to 2002, 1980 to 2002, and 2001 to 2002.
Table 2. Area-weighted average water-level changes in the
High Plains aquifer, not including the areas of little or no
saturated thickness—predevelopment to 2002, 1980 to 2002,
2001 to 2002.
Area-weighted average water-level
- change
State Predevelopment to 1980 to 2001 to
2002 2002 2002
º (feet) (feet) (feet)
Colorado –9.5 —5.1 –0.6
Kansas —18.3 –9.1 –0.8
Nebraska 0.2 0.6 –0.5 . . .
New Mexico –14.5 —5.5 —0.7
Oklahoma —13.2 –4.0 –0.3
South Dakota 0.2 0.3 —0.2
Texas –34.7 –9.6 –0.8
Wyoming –0.2 –0.3 –0.3
High Plains (Total) —12.1 –40 –0.6
Table 3. Change in water in storage in the High Plains
aquifer, predevelopment to 2002, 1980 to 2002, 2001 to 2002.
Change in water in storage.
2001 to
State Predevelopment to 1980 to
2002 2002 2002
(million (million (million
acre-feet) acre-feet) acre-feet)
Colorado —11.1 –6.0 –0.6
Kansas —47.5 —23.5 —2.1
Nebraska 1.5 3.6 —3.1
New Mexico —7.9 —3.0 –0.4
Oklahoma —11.0 –3.3 –0.3
South Dakota 0.1 0.1 —0.1
Texas —124.4 –34.6 –3.0
Wyoming —0.1 —0.1 —0.1
High Plains (Total) –200.4 –66.8 –9.7
Wells - .
measured Wells used in water-level
S and used in comparison periods
tate this report
2002 Predevelop- 1980 to 2001 to
ment to 2002 2002 2002
Colorado 548 394 460 531
Kansas 1,396 606 764 1,269
Nebraska 3,726 1,538 1,697 3,489
New Mexico 206 208° 169: 93
Oklahoma 304 191 150 220
South Dakota 116 72 73 113
Texas 2,888 834 1,417 2,230
Wyoming * 55 17 16 53
High Plains (Total) 9,239 3,860 4,746 7,998
*Includes 1998 to 2001 water levels, instead of 2002 water levels, for 143 wells
in the predevelopment to 2002 comparison period and 66 wells in the
1980 to 2002 comparison period because many wells in New Mexico are
measured on a 5-year schedule.
RTTTTTTTT
e Year for which storage –
EXPLANATION T.
change was computed
LL O
% N
5 N
~ -25 T N
5% N
#º N
#5ſ. 50 T N.
=3|H - N
* ſºur N
chº Lil - N
z - ſº –75 N
229 - N.
5:5-100 +
2C9 |-
IIIſà
gºi-125 -
##E
#5 ſ
ºtz-150 -
> || |-
F9
*# 175 -
= 0
> F
-)
O –200 - - - - -
1950 1960 1970
1980 1990 2000
Figure 4. Cumulative change in ground-water storage in the High
Plains aquifer since predevelopment (modified from U.S. Geological
Survey, 2002).
REFERENCES
Heimes, F.J., and Luckey, R.R., 1982, Method for estimating
irrigation requirements from ground water in the High Plains
in parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Okla-
homa, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming: U.S. Geological
Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 82–40, 64 p.
Gutentag, E.D., Heimes, F.J., Krothe, N.C., Luckey, R.R., and
Weeks, J.B., 1984, Geohydrology of the High Plains aquifer
in parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Okla-
homa, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming: U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 1400–B, 63 p.
Lohman, S.W., 1979, Ground-water hydraulics: U.S. Geological
Survey Professional Paper 708, 70 p.
Luckey, R.R., Gutentag, E.D., and Weeks, J.B., 1981, Water-
level and Saturated-thickness changes, predevelopment to
1980, in the High Plains aquifer in parts of Colorado, Kansas,
Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and
Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations
Atlas HA–652, 2 sheets, Scale 1:2,500,000.
McGuire, V.L., Johnson, M.R., Schieffer, R.L., Stanton, J.S.,
Sebree, S.K., and Verstraeten, I.M., 2003, Water in storage
and approaches to ground-water management, High Plains
aquifer, 2000: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1243, 51 p.
Theissen, A.H., 1911, Precipitation averages for large areas:
Monthly Weather Review, v. 39, p. 1082–1084.
Thelin, G.P., and Heimes, F.J., 1987, Mapping irrigated crop-
land from Landsat data for determination of water use
from the High Plains aquifer in parts of Colorado, Kansas,
Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas,
and Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Professional
Paper 1400–C, 38 p.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1999, 1997 Census of agricul-
ture geographic area series: National Agricultural Statistics
Service CD–ROM AC97–CD–VOL1–1B.
U.S. Geological Survey, 2002, Concepts for national assessment
of water availability and use: U.S. Geological Survey Circular
1223, 34 p.
For additional information contact:
U.S. Geological Survey
Federal Bldg., Room 406
100 Centennial Mall North
Lincoln, NE 68508
(402) 437–5082
USGS Nebraska District home page:
http://newater.usgs.gov



Wind-powered well and livestock watering tank in Platte County, Wyoming
(Photograph courtesy of J.P. Mason, U.S. Geological Survey.)
Irrigation well in Laramie County, Wyoming
(Photograph courtesy of R.R. Luckey, U.S.
Geological Survey.)
Observation well equipped to measure ground-water levels continually in Lea County,
New Mexico (Photograph courtesy of R.R.Cruz, U.S. Geological Survey.)
*
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