The Groundwater Atlas of Nebraska by Jesse T. Korus et. al. (review)

With its enormous groundwater use of 10 million acrefeet per year and a total of 7.8 million irrigated acres, Nebraska ranks first among the Great Plains states. The state’s extraordinary groundwater resource, largely due to the fact that it contains the greatest saturated thickness of the High Plains aquifer, makes it an ideal case study for groundwater in the Great Plains as a whole. Publication of this updated and upgraded edition of The Groundwater Atlas of Nebraska comes at a time when both appreciation of the potential and concern about the sustainability of groundwater resources are approaching universal.

This book might have been titled The Citizen’s Guide to the Groundwater of Nebraska. The authors do a great job of presenting the usual information: maps showing the history of groundwater development, surface and subsurface geology, configuration of the various aquifers, depth to water, and saturated thickness. But the authors’ attention to features beyond the maps will increase the accessibility of the data presented here. A chapter on groundwater basics introduces watercycle concepts essential to understanding how water occurs and moves in the atmosphere and in surface and subsurface geologic materials. A generalized but not terribly oversimplified stratigraphic framework is presented along with maps, cross sections, and a fairly detailed discussion of individual aquifers. A nongeologist reading these chapters with some care should come away with a good understanding of how water typically enters the ground and flows through it. Any preconceptions involving things like underground pools might be replaced with an appreciation of just how complex groundwater geological situations can be. Readers will also learn why it is no simple matter to assess groundwater quantities and to predict its behavior over time.

As important and seemingly ubiquitous as groundwater is, it is also hidden from direct view. Thus the history of groundwater interaction with humans is fraught with misunderstanding and conservation failures. One could argue that knowledge among nonprofessionals about how groundwater gets into the ground and how we get it out is critical to the preservation of this resource. This book should aid greatly in increasing that general understanding.

While the Atlas is not a textbook, it should be an accessible educational supplement. The explanatory text that accompanies the maps can help link groundwater concepts with the realities of resource use and conservation. The authors have access to the best and most up-to-date data about groundwater in Nebraska and seem to care that this information reach the widest audience possible. Thus, while the focus is on Nebraska, water users throughout the Great Plains and beyond will find this book interesting and full of factual information relevant to the occurrence and conservation of groundwater in their own backyard.