The work upon which this publication is based was supported in part by the Office of Water Research and Technology, Department of the Interior, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964, P. L. 88-3797 through the Texas Water Resources Institute and in part by funds provided by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The region north of the Canadian River in Texas and including the three western counties of Oklahoma have been rapidly developing the groundwater resource since the mid 1960's. This region, hereafter referred to as the Northern High Plains, is basically rural in nature with the principal agricultural products wheat, sorghum and cattle.
Water is pumped from formations mainly for irrigating wheat and sorghum.
For wheat, irrigation increases yield from an expected 12 bushels per acre to 41 bushels per acre. Larger total and individual farm incomes are a direct result of irrigation in the Northern High Plains which adds to the bundle of consumable agricultural products in the local, regional and national markets and in turn provides a demand for goods and services produced by non-agricultural sectors of the local, regional and national economies. This means continued pumping will result in declining water levels and eventually economic exhaustion of the aquifer. Beyond some peak or maximum number of irrigated acres the growth process will be reversed and irrigated acres will begin to decline. Dependence of agricultural production on irrigation in the study area is emphasized by Osborn and Harris.