Farming Cotton on the Edge of a Water Crisis

by Jordan Albus

Water is a dealbreaker. No matter how much falls from the sky, it’s never enough to meet the demands of modern agriculture. In Texas alone, irrigation accounts for 53% of all water use; yet, groundwater levels in key aquifers, such as the Ogallala, continue to decline year after year. A few inches of rain might green up a pasture, but they won’t refill an aquifer. And drought maps? They don’t tell the full story. Out here, farmers aren’t asking if they’ll have enough water—they’re asking how long they can keep going without it. Still, in the face of these relentless challenges, local organizations like the High Plains Water District and the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District are helping growers push forward, one efficient drop at a time.

Texas

While no one can control the amount of water we receive, the High Plains Water District can help farmers understand how much water is available for use. This organization enables farmers to ask questions and learn about water conservation, helping them to survive these drought years. The HPWD monitors groundwater levels in 16 counties in Texas. Jason Coleman, the manager of the HPWD, and Jennifer McClendon, the HPWD education coordinator, provided insight into the opportunities this organization offers growers within the district to learn about water conservation and understand water availability, crucial elements in navigating a drought.

“There’s no doubt that water-related issues in our district, in this part of the state, in Texas, even as a whole, have a lot of challenges. Your communities in the High Plains Water District, most of them rely on groundwater,” Coleman said. “It’s just a function of where we live, so the source is limited almost entirely to just groundwater.”

The Texas Water Development Board’s 2022 State Water Plan stated that in 2020, of the roughly 16.8 million acre-feet of available water in Texas, about half of that supply is groundwater. Growers also depend on groundwater for most of their supply for livestock and irrigation purposes. Because crops depend heavily on groundwater, the HPWD monitors three aquifers: the Ogallala, Edwards-Trinity (High Plains), and the Dockum aquifers. The Ogallala lies under the entirety of the HPWD, which ranges from the southern portion of Potter County to Lynn County. The Edwards-Trinity lies under the southern and eastern HPWD counties, and the Dockum lies under the Ogallala.

Coleman said these are monitored on an annual and daily basis. While the Ogallala Aquifer is the primary water source of the High Plains, the Dockum Aquifer is the deepest in the water district.

One way the HPWD communicates water levels to farmers within the district is through an interactive map on its website, which displays observation wells in the water district. These wells are monitored each winter. Marked as a blue symbol on the map, one can click on the symbol and view the water levels recorded each year for that specific well.

“We have a tool that we use as a way of looking at the estimated aquifer parameters at that location for a period of one, five, and 10 years,” Coleman said. “We feel like it’s a useful resource so people understand what’s happening in their specific area of interest.”

The HPWD offers the Irrigation Assessment Program, a voluntary program in which interested growers can work with HPWD staff to monitor water levels. Under this program, an HPWD staff member can visit a field and measure the water levels of wells throughout a growing season, then relay that information back to the grower, allowing them to better understand how water levels in their wells change throughout the year.

Not only is the water level observation available through this program, but growers can also ask to have basic water screening done to better understand the quality of the water they do have. Growers are also provided with an Irrigation Assessment Program report that summarizes its findings each year.

The HPWD is also working to educate others about the importance of water conservation. Jennifer McClendon said the HPWD is involved with youth programs, college students, and adults within the district.

“We try to teach everyone that they can incorporate conservation somehow into their everyday lives,” McClendon said. “It’s going to take everybody.”

Oklahoma

Conventional irrigation methods exist across the Cotton Belt, but the Lugert-Altus Irrigation Lake in Altus, Oklahoma supplies water via a highly specialized gravity-flow irrigation system to growers in its irrigation district. Tom Buchanan, the manager of the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District, said the lake provides water to about 47,000 acres in the surrounding area. The water is transported to farms through approximately 300 miles of ditches and canals. Each year in June, an allocation for irrigation water is made, taking into account factors such as delivery loss and evaporation.

“Each acre in the irrigation district gets the same amount of water,” Buchanan said. “This is regardless of whether a producer owns 10 acres or 10,000 acres.”

The North Fork of the Red River supplies water to the irrigation lake, which is the sole source of water for the irrigation district.

“Ever-changing weather patterns have resulted in a less consistent supply of water for the producers of the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District,” Buchanan said.

Throughout the growing season, Buchanan measures the amounts of water on each farm and communicates this information to the farmers. He said producers can move remaining water from one farm to another if needed, or they can look into purchasing water from a neighboring farmer, if feasible.

“Conservation measures have been undertaken within the irrigation district, such as subsurface irrigation practices, or drip, and tailwater pits,” Buchanan said. “Both of these have resulted in significant savings of water – in some instances, as much as a 30% savings.”

Buchanan said cotton is the primary crop that receives water from the irrigation lake. Because the farm-level management techniques and water demands for these cotton crops are almost identical, the lake’s water distribution has become more effective and efficient.

“We operate as one giant farm,” Buchanan said. “It is what we do to achieve as much efficiency and effectiveness as we can with this limited amount of water.”

Experiences in the field hold more significance than information from drought maps. A few rains have temporarily helped the drought situation, but now what? The HPWD and the Lugert-Altus Irrigation District demonstrate that longterm relief must begin with adapting to the land’s needs, employing various irrigation techniques, and implementing water conservation measures, as every drop counts.

Kansas

While drought has impacted the areas in Texas and Oklahoma, crop production in Kansas faces the opposite problem. Rex Friesen, a crop consultant and public relations representative for the Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative, says as of June 2025, Kansas is not facing a drought. He said that after the large amounts of rain the state received, he could see standing water in the fields and ditches, and the rivers were filled. While this is normally a positive, it can have a negative impact.

“Unfortunately, the cotton crop is struggling from it all,” Friesen said. “This is not cotton weather.”

Rain is a good thing, but having too much after planting can negatively impact the crop. Friesen said that the state will need some warmth to help dry out some of the standing water in the fields to see a decent harvest later on.

“Barring being waterlogged or submerged for too long, young cotton doesn’t like ‘wet feet’ for very long,” Friesen said.

Every crop year brings challenges, and this year is no different. Farmers have had to constantly fight either extreme of the water availability scale, making it essential to adjust and adapt to their crops’ needs. Unpredictable weather patterns significantly impact crop outcomes, pushing these farmers to become more resilient and innovative with their farm management practices.