The Future Of The Ogallala

Marketplace:

Buddy Holly was born in Lubbock. He was the biggest thing that ever happened here. Well, him and irrigation. When farmers started to pump water from below in the 1940s and '50s, it changed everything. Kirby Lewis is a cotton farmer.

Kirby Lewis: This area, if it wasn't for the way the water was utilized, these cities wouldn't be here.

But here groundwater -- like oil -- is finite. Just go north, to the town of Happy, Texas. Hardly anyone's left. Main Street stores boarded up decades ago. I did find wheat farmer Clyde Hancock. He's 86.

Clyde Hancock: We got in a drought, like we are now. That's when we started drilling the wells. We pumped them for 20, 30 years. And then kind of ran out of water.
Tong: What did Main Street used to look like?
Hancock:One time there was grocery stores and drug stores. Had a doctor, cafes. Oh, in the 40s, 50s, back in there, this was a pretty thriving little town.

Dave Brauer met me in Happy. He works for the Agriculture Department.

Dave Brauer: This, in some parts of the high southern plains, is what we can expect to happen if we do not use the water wisely over time.

The future of agriculture, and rural life, in the Southern Plains, is completely tied to how long the water lasts.  Since it really doesn't get recharged, it won't be a long time.  More on the Ogallala here.