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<br />CJ <br />(~ ) <br />fV <br />~ <br />~ <br />-J. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />'.' <br /> <br />II. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br /> <br />The water and related land problems in the region include <br />lack of water supply, salinity, organic pollution, flooding, <br />erosion, and sedimentation. The solution of these problems within <br />reasonable economic goals while maintaining high quality environ- <br />mental objectives requires careful and thorough plancing. The <br />climate, topography and soils are so varied that successful solu- <br />tions to problems must be based on local conditions which involve <br />extreme variations in water quantity and quality and in weather <br />conditions. <br /> <br />GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS <br /> <br />High Plains Groundwater Irrigation. There is one large and <br />severe problem covering portions of Colorado, Kansa~, Nebraska, <br />New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas and the three Assessment regions-- <br />Missouri, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf. This is known as the <br />High Plains Groundwater Irrigation problem where private irrigation <br />withdrawals in portions of the area exceed recharge rates. This <br />mining of large aquifers during the, past thirty-five years has created <br />one of the,world_'.!!.,largest irrigated areas and it is still growing. <br />In 1975, l3,094,OOO acres were irrigated and water use was 19,953,000 <br />acre-feet annually. <br /> <br />In the AWR Region the total irrigated area was 4,888,000 acres <br />in 1975, and the use of water was 8,414,000 acre-feet annually., A <br />summary by ASA's, States, and Regions is shown on Table 1. <br /> <br />More than eighty-five percent of the AWR Region'S agricultural <br />earnings result from farming activities in the west~rn plains of <br />ASA's 1102, 1103, 1105, and 1106, where irrigated croplands and <br />pastures create large demands for water, principally from groundwater <br />sources. Surface waters are scarce or highly variable in quantity <br />from yesr to year, and high salinity of these waters predominate <br />during the normal arid or semi-arid periods. Domeotic and industrial <br />users also obtain a significant portion of their supply from ground- <br />water aquifers which contain potable waters not appreciably affected <br />by surface flows. <br /> <br />The areal extent of this groundwater irrigation development is <br />shown on Plate II. This vast development not only ia of significance <br />to the three regions, but it also is of national significance since <br />a large part of food exports to foreign countries must be backed up <br />by 'the atability and volume of food production afforded by such <br /> <br />9 <br />