Living on the Ogallala
Betty Ruhlen
Northeast Kansas Education Service Center
Lecompton, Kansas

Overview:
If you travel west from Great Bend, Kansas, you will note prosperous farms and ranches - and few running streams. After some time you come to Dodge City and Garden City, bustling cities where feed lots and packing plants employ large numbers of people. Where do people get the water to live here?
 
The people of the High Plains owe their very existence to an underground formation known as the Ogallala Aquifer. It provides water for farming and industry, as well as for home use and swimming pools.
 
The activities that follow will help students gain an understanding of the importance of the Ogallala Aquifer to life on the High Plains of Kansas.

Teaching Level: Grades 3-8

Time Needed: 1-3 hours

Geographic Themes:
Location, Place, Region, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement

Kansas Social Studies Standards of Benchmarks, Grade Levels 8-K:
The student will understand the connections among people, places, and environments in the local school and community, Kansas and its surrounding states, the United States and its region, and the world
 
The student will understand the effects of economics, science, and technology in the local school and community, Kansas, the United States, and different nations in the world.

National Geography Standard, Grades 5-8:

#4

 The geographically informed person knows and understands the student will be able to analyze the physical characteristics of western Kansas, as exemplified by being able to use maps to identify and compare the physical characteristics of places, and to use maps and tables to make inferences about the causes and effects of changes over time in the physical landscape.

Outcome:
To understand the effect of the Ogallala Aquifer upon the people of southwest Kansas

Performance Objectives:
1. Describe how the Ogallala Aquifer affects the people of southwest Kansas.
2. List reasons why this area was labeled as the "Great American Desert" by early explorers.
3. Describe management problems involving Cheyenne Bottoms.
4. Construct a model of an aquifer.
 
Vocabulary (see Glossary):
Acre-foot
Alluvium
Aquifer
Artesian well
Bedrock
Cone of depression
Depth to water		 Drawdown
Evapotranspiration
Freshwater
Ground water
Permeability
Recharge		 Safe yield
Spring
Surface water
Watershed
Water table
Well
 
Materials Needed:
Procedures:
1. Introducing the lesson:
Have the students read the National Geographic article, "Wellspring of the High Plains." Have them write the definitions for the following terms: acre-foot, alluvium, aquifer, artesian well, bedrock, cone of depression, depth to water, drawdown, evapotranspiration, freshwater, ground water, permeability, recharge, safe yield, spring, surface water; watershed, water table, well
2. Discussion questions:
 a. How does the Ogallala affect the lives of the people who live in western Kansas?
 b. Why do farmers even attempt to grow thirsty crops such as corn on the High Plains? 
 c. An early explorer dubbed this part of America "the Great American Desert." What did he mean by this? Do you agree or disagree with his assessment of the area? Do you think the farmers, ranchers, meat packers, and others who live in Western Kansas agree with him? Why or why not? 
 d. Name all the ways you can think of that people use the water of the Ogallala aquifer.
 e. Discuss the ways that the Reeve Cattle Company makes the most use of its water.
 f. Cheyenne Bottoms is an important stopping place for migrating birds. Do you think water should be diverted from Wet Walnut Creek to keep the water in the Bottoms? What should be done for the farmers, who depend on the water to grow their crops? What is an equitable way to manage the available water? 
3. Activities:
 a. Pass out copies of the map of the Ogallala Aquifer, the map of Principal Aquifers of Kansas, and the map of counties. Have students trace the aquifers onto the map of counties. (If they can't see the maps of aquifers through the map of counties, tape the aquifer maps to a window and place the county map on top in order to see the information on the aquifer maps more easily.) Pass out the Population of Incorporated Places in Kansas. Have students use a road map of Kansas to locate cities of 20,000 or more and mark them on the map of Principal Aquifers. Discuss the reasons for population centers to thrive in those locations.
 b. Have students experiment with aquifers in the following experiments (adapted from the National Geographic Society, 1993). A) In a clear glass or plastic container, arrange (in the following order) stones, bits of sponge, gravel, soil, and vegetation. Slowly add water until it collects up to the gravel. Ask: What material holds the most water? How would changing the size of the rocks change the volume of water the aquifer holds? B) Fill three identical glasses: one with gravel, change the volume of water the aquifer holds? B) Fill three identical glasses: one with gravel, another with coarse sand, and a third with soil. The sample materials must be dry. Add red food dye to a supply of water, then add an equal volume of the water to each glass. Observe what occurs. Does the water soak into the various materials at the same rate? Does the "water table" come to the same level in all three glasses? If not, what determines which water table is the lowest? What does this indicate about the water-holding capacity of the materials? (The lower the resulting water table, the greater the water-holding capacity of that material.)
 c. Have students look at the Aquifer Close-up on pages 84-85 of the National Geographic article, "Wellspring of the High Plains." Have them review the article in order to find out the importance of the aquifer to agriculture on the High Plains. Divide the students into groups. Have each group prepare an equitable agreement among all the states over the Ogallala Aquifer on the use of its water. Students may use maps of those states to come to their decisions. 
 d. The student will make a list of the ways that the Ogallala is important to the people who live on the High Plains of Kansas. The student will draw a diagram of how an aquifer works. The student will develop an agreement for Colorado and Kansas on the use of water from the Arkansas River and the Ogallala Aquifer. 

Assessment:
1. Observe student responses to questions about the effect of the aquifer on people.
2. Observe student participation "The Great American Desert." 
3. Observe student responses to discussion questions about Cheyenne Bottoms. 
4. Observe and note student participation in aquifer construction. 

Extensions:
1. Have students research maps and other resources to locate other aquifers in the United States or the world. They may need to contact the U.S. Department of Agriculture for this information.
2. Have students make a model of an irrigation system.
3. Have students research the impact of irrigation on the Nile River valley.
4. Have students design a water conservation scheme for their own home, school, or city.
Resources:

Attachments:
KS Counties
KS Population

 

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irc staff 11/13/97 (updated kn 06/18/99)
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