Ogallala Aquifer | What Happens When the Water Runs Out, National Geographic Magazine: Running Out of Water
The Lazbuddie Superintendent drives the school bus, and a family of three Mennonite children are last to get off at the end of the route.
The Texas Panhandle school district which doubles as a public water supplier, is trying to figure out how to keep the school and community alive as they run out of water. Over 200 students are drawn partly to a celebrated robotics program, but there is only 90 days of water left for 16 families. The school received federal funds for a new $360K well, but there are 88,000 wells nearby and the area has the least water from the aquifer underneath, the least regulation, the least recharge and the highest density of wells.Counties are drawing groundwater faster than the underground aquifers can recharge. Historically, the state’s aquifers are in a decline which has led to water suppliers drilling and pumping deeper for water.