Our area can lead world in wise water use

A Cornell University professor's study didn't tell us anything new in Southwest Nebraska. David Pimental concluded that farmers need to make every effort to reduce their use of water.

According to his study, published in the October issue of BioScience, agriculture uses about 70 percent of the globe's fresh water every year.

And, as usual, Americans use more than their share of this precious resource, dropping the Ogallala Aquifer by 33 percent since 1950. This huge pool of water, underlying our area as well as parts of South Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, new Mexico and Texas, supplies water to a fifth of all irrigated land in the United States.

Since pump irrigation became widespread a half-century ago, that resource has been reduced by an amount half the volume of Lake Erie, the New York professor said.

In parts of Arizona, water is being pumped from the ground 10 times faster than it can be recharged by rainfall. In California, agriculture accounts for about 3 percent of the state's economic production, but uses 85 percent of the fresh water.

An an urban resident, Pimental naturally focuses on the clash between agricultural and human use of water. And, the recent tsunami disaster illustrates how vital a supply of clean, fresh water is to human life.

But even without much of a rural-urban clash, those of us in the Golden Plains know just how important wise water use is. The Republican River Compact settlement, drought, McCook's city water saga -- even the city's sewer problems point out what a limited, important commodity water is.

Fortunately, we are in a position to be on the leading edge of water conservation. Valmont's new, modern McCook factory produces equipment that helps farmers use water more efficiently than ever. Efforts by local Natural Resources Districts and the Natural Resources Conservation Service -- and even the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation all aim toward less waste of our water and soil resources.

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation and a Texas-based rice farmer, was probably right when he told the Associated Press that by 2050, "water will be the most critical resource issue we face in the entire world." He even went on to predict that wars will be fought over water.

But it doesn't have to be that way. We must continue to look for better ways to use our most precious commodity, find out what works and what doesn't, and share our knowledge with the world.