Getting water from wells like betting in Vegas

“It’s like Vegas. Every morning we come out here, press a button and hope for water,” said Clark Kagele, manager at Kagele Family Farms in Odessa.

For farmers in the Columbia Basin within the Odessa Subarea, getting water from their wells is a daily gamble. Early each morning, they head out to the well pumps, turn them on, and wait for water. Their source is the Odessa aquifer and it provides water to irrigators, municipalities, industrial users and domestic users. Unfortunately, the source is declining to a critical level. Experts say, if action is not taken, the supply could disappear in som...