The scarcity of surface water which has so marked the Great Plains is even more characteristic of its subdivision, the Texas High Plains. Settlers on the plateau were forced to use pump technology to tap the vast ground water resources—the underground rain—beneath its flat surface. The evolution from windmills to the modern high-speed irrigation pumps took place over several decades. Three phases characterized the movement toward irrigation. In the period from 1910 to 1920, large-volume pumping plants first appeared in the region, but, due to national and regional circumstances, these premature efforts were largely abortive. The second phase began as a response to the drouth of the Dust Bowl and continued into the 1950s. By 1959, irrigation had become an important aspect of the flourishing High Plains economy. The decade of the 1960s was characterized chiefly by a growing alarm over the declining ground water table caused by massive pumping, and by investigations of other water sources. Land of the Underground Rain is a study in human use and threatened exhaustion of the High Plains' most valuable natural resource. Ground water was so plentiful that settlers believed it flowed inexhaustibly from some faraway place or mysteriously from a giant underground river. Whatever the source, they believed that it was being constantly replenished, and until the 1950s they generally opposed effective conservation of ground water. A growing number of weak and dry wells then made it apparent that Plains residents were "mining" an exhaustible resource. The Texas High Plains region has been far more successful in exploiting its resource than in conserving it. The very success of its pump technology has produced its environmental crisis. The problem brought about by the threatened exhaustion of this resource still awaits a solution. This study is the first comprehensive history of irrigation on the Texas High Plains, and it is the first comprehensive treatment of the development of twentieth-century pump irrigation in any area of the United States.

In The Future of the Southern Plains, scholars bring the region to the forefront by asking important questions about its past and suggesting prospects for its future. The contributors, some of them natives of the region, bring to their work a blend of scholarship and personal experience. They match intellectual sophistication with deep affection for a place defined primarily as western Texas, Oklahoma, and eastern New Mexico. Within this volume is a story about America, a story about limits, and a story about challenging those limits. Seven historians, one geographer, and a paleoclimatologist contribute a wealth of observation, analysis, and commentary on the environmental characteristics and history of the Southern Plains. They address such themes as failing communities, scarce water, endangered species, and disappearing ways of life—and the possible results of these developments not only in the Southern Plains but elsewhere on the globe. Based on presentations at a symposium sponsored by the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University, these essays treat the most important aspects of life on the Southern Plains today, from climate, politics, and religion to business and environmental renewal. Contributors and topics include: Sherry L. Smith: Introduction Dan Flores: Environmental destruction and preservation John Miller Morris: Corporations and family farms Diana Davids Olien: Oil production John Opie: Water management Jeff Roche: Political history Yolanda Romero: Political history Elliott West: Exploration Connie Woodhouse: Droughts

The FAO Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity (WSI), initiated in 2013, identified that lack of water resources is a potential disaster scenario for the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. The WSI initiative developed out of 31st Session of the FAO Near East and North Africa (NENA) Regional Conference held in Rome in May 2012, outcomes from the Hyogo Framework Agreement 2005 – 2015, and highlighted through work undertaken by the Arab Water Council in reports in 2004, 2012 and 2015. Several projects were started, including use of non-conventional water resources in integrated agriculture - aquaculture (IAA) systems within the NENA region. Agriculture is the largest food production type in the region and the highest water use. Aquaculture production is also a major food sector and development of integrated systems, for increase productivity and to reduce overall water use in food production, is a useful approach. Water scarcity is particularly acute in arid regions of the NENA region, and is a finite resource, with IAA competing for water with other large sectors including domestic and industrial use. Non-conventional water resources are identified as a potential resource to develop IAA systems in a more unified way, reducing the burden of use on standard renewable water resources. The principle objective of the work was to build broad partnerships to support greater understanding in implementation and use of non-conventional water resource in IAA systems.