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<br />~"''l 04"5 <br />v tJ....> . <br /> <br />SUMMARY <br /> <br />SIX-STATE HIGH PLAINS-OGALLALA AQUIFER REGIONAL RESOURCES STUDY <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />The problem of depleting Ogallala Aquifer water supplies to support <br />15 million acres of irrigation crop farming in the High Plains was addressed <br />by the U.S. Congress in Section 193, Publ ic Law 94-587. The Congressional <br />intent was clear and concise in directing the Secretary of Commerce ". . . to <br />examine the feasibility of various alternatives to provide adequate water <br />supplies" for the High Plains Region, and ". . . to assure the continued <br />economic growth and vitality of the region." The High Plains Study Council, <br />made up of the governors of the six states and three representatives of each <br />state appoi nted by the Governor and a representat i ve of the Depa rtment of <br />Commerce, was also clear and concise in stating overall study objectives: <br />"(i) to determine potential development alternatives for the High Plains, <br />(ii) to identify and describe the policies and actions required to carry out <br />promising development strategies, and (iii) to evaluate the local, state, and <br />national implications of these alternative strategies or the absence of these <br />strategies." <br /> <br />GEOGRAPH I C AREA <br /> <br />The High Plains area extends over parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, <br />New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas in the Great Plains land resource region <br />of mid-continental America. Much of the High Plains is underlain by the <br />Ogallala Formation, a major aquifer supplying most of the water needs of <br />the area's large agricultural economy.* <br /> <br />The Ogallala Formation, of Tertiary age, is an unconsolidated remnant of <br />vast deposits of gravel, sand, and silt eroded from the ancestral Rockies. <br />Erosion has reduced the area of the extensive deposits that once covered all <br /> <br />* See Fi gure II-I. <br />