Event Summary: Running Out of Water with Dr. Lucas Bessire

For the first event in our current Land & Water series, the Rural Reconciliation Project at the University of Nebraska College of Law was honored to host Dr. Lucas Bessire, an American writer, filmmaker, and anthropologist, to discuss his new book on the depletion of the Ogallala aquifer. The book, Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains, approaches the topic of aquifer depletion in a uniquely personal way. After many years away, Dr. Bessire returned to his native west Kansas and, in a project with his father, explored how understandings of the aquifer around his home help propagate the unsustainable practices propelling the currrent depletion crisis.

Dr. Bessire describes returning to his childhood home in SW Kansas.

By demystifying the aquifer as more knowable than simply a mysterious abstract entity underground, and yet more complex than a monolithic water reserve, Dr. Bessire’s urgent and haunting meditation brings to light the growing disconnects between rural resources and rural livelihoods, as well as between those who own and benefit from these resources and those left to bear the costs of their extraction and use. When positioned at the nexus of the social and emotional, the aquifer becomes not a single thing, but a complex system of interconnections and relationships.

Dr. Bessire’s talk highlighted five major myths concerning groundwater that he found contributed to current depletion. The first centered on the nature of the aquifer itself. Like many others, he initially thought of the aquifer as essentially one giant reservoir everyone was drawing from. In reality however, the aquifer is more like an “amorphous mass” that contains water in multiple lochs, caverns, and marshy areas. Drawing water from one section affects other areas in different, sometimes unpredictable, ways.

The second myth is that farmers in southwest Kansas act as a unified group with identical aims and interests. Instead, Dr. Bessire identified three main groups: water miners there to pump as much water for profit as they can before leaving; those who would prefer to preserve water but are unable to make radical changes due to the structures of farm finance (Dr. Bessire found these to be in the majority); and finally innovators who are doing what they can to preserve the Ogallala aquifer.

The third myth is that the depletion of the aquifer makes economic sense. Just around his family’s farm, Dr. Bessire found that sixty percent of the land is not owned by local families, but rather by owners who are out of state or more than 200 miles away but reap the profits of the industry. The consequences of this corporatization of farmland is further explored in his book.

Dr. Bessire and Professors Jessica Shoemaker and Anthony Schutz (Project co-creators) led further discussion with the audience after Dr. Bessire’s talk.

The fourth myth, which builds on the previous one, is the assumption that groundwater governance is democratic. While many assume most SW Kansans have a say in how the groundwater is used, in reality, Dr. Bessire highlighted a series of requirements that determine who is even allowed to be in the room with those making these decisions. One of these requirements is that voters must be landowners of at least forty acres, thereby excluding a huge proportion of local residents from these crucial conversations.

The fifth and final myth Dr. Bessire discussed is that aquifer depletion is inevitable. This leads to the book's core purpose. During his lecture, Dr. Bessire identified one of the main problems inherent in the current discourse surrounding the Ogallala aquifer: the lack of space for emotional language. Rather than discussing our water usage in terms of scientific measurements and specific practices, Dr. Bessire claims that “our relationship with aquifers is the same as our relationship with each other.” Broadening our language and the scope of our conversations about the aquifer allows for the emergence of previously unconsidered approaches and solutions. Dr. Bessire’s book tells a nuanced and messy story that casts us all as main characters with roles to play in the aquifer’s future.

Conversation continued after the lecture with a reception in Nebraska Law library’s reading room.

Anyone interested in learning more about Dr. Bessire’s work may also enjoy this episode of the Great Plains Anywhere lecture series, which is shared here with permission from our friends at the Center for Great Plains Studies:

More information about this Rural Reconciliation Project event is also available here.