If you want to get really worried about the future of water in places that are above the Ogalalla Aquifer, you could read Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains, by Lucas Bessire.

Or you could look at the shifts in annual rainfall and think about how long it takes to recharge our aquifer. And think about how farmers are already moving away from growing certain high-water-consuming crops. (Who REALLY needs corn, anyway?)

Or you could think about how rural counties are falling all over themselves to get data centers to come here. And then think about how the data centers claim their eventual water usage will be “about the same as two houses.”

And maybe, sometime in the future you can think fondly about the days where there WAS fresh water out.

Hockley County, Texas
photographed 6.14.2026