The Role of the Ogallala Aquifer, Nebraska

Noah Miller discusses the role of the Ogallala Aquifer in providing our food, particularly its uses by farmers and ranchers. He emphasizes how crucial working together is for everyone who needs it to survive. This project was created through a County wide partnership with Custer County Historical Society.

Noah Miller (00:00): (Silence. Video of moving images.)

Noah Miller (01:05): Water. Where does water come from? In the state of Nebraska, we know that it comes from rivers, lakes and streams, but most of our water comes from the Ogallala Aquifer.

Noah Miller (01:22): The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the biggest aquifers in the United States of America. The Aquifer starts in North Dakota, goes down to Wyoming, to Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma, New Mexico, and ends off at Texas.

Noah Miller (01:59): The Aquifer is important to most businesses and people who need it, mostly farmers and ranchers, because we rely on the farmers and ranchers to give us our food. So without our food, we have nothing to live off of. Without the Ogallala Aquifer, where will we be?

Noah Miller (02:23): So we all rely on the Aquifer, the people who do, like the farmers and ranchers, and the people who work on the Aquifer to keep it more safe.

Noah Miller (02:39): Here are the facts about the Ogallala Aquifer. And the farmers and all the people like ranchers who work in farms and ranches, they work really hard to provide for not just themselves, but for everybody, because it's very important that these farmers and ranchers do this for us. Because if they just started doing it for themselves, we would assume they're selfish and we would have been just rude and disrespectful.

Noah Miller (03:22): So it's good to have farmers, ranchers, and all these other folk help out. And we should also thank the Ogallala Aquifer and the scientists who watch it because recent studies show that the Aquifer has been low on water. So we have to be careful on the Aquifer. There's been a lot of disputes and we got through them.

Noah Miller (03:50): Now, if we all can help each other work together as team in the United States and be a great state, a great country like we always say we are, then we could work together and help each other on the Aquifer and help the US.

Noah Miller (04:17): The Aquifer was very helpful and it helped us in a good way. And it's been helping us in a good way. We have to thank those people who worked on the Aquifer, those farmers who give us our food. We have to be happy. We also have to thank the truckers and everybody else who brings us the food.

Noah Miller (05:09): There's no way else to say it. Without the Ogallala Aquifer, we'd be gone. It's very important. It's very helpful. I respect it. We all should respect it. This is no Noah Miller signing off. The Ogallala Aquifer.

Asset ID: 8627
Themes: Water, waterways, agriculture, farming, engineering
Date recorded: 2018
Length of recording: 5:46 m
Related traveling exhibition: Water/Ways
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Custer County Historical Society, Nebraska
More Information: https://museumonmainstreet.org/blog-node/going-distance-stories-nebraska