FIGURE 2.8 The Ogallala aquifer. Between the 1940s and the 1980s, the aquifer lost an average of 10 feet (3 meters) of water overall, and more than 100 feet (30 meters) of water in some parts of Texas. Then, during the 1980s, abundant rain and snow meant less water decline in the aquifer. However, in the Ogallala area the climate fluctuates from moderately moist to very dry, but dry periods are lengthening. A drought began in mid-1992 and has returned every few years, causing large agribusiness firms to pump Ogallala water to supplement scarce precipitation. Since 1992, water levels in the aquifer declined an average of 1.35 feet per year and now exceed replenishment rates many times over.