A report from the National Research Council suggests that ethanol production could affect water levels in the Ogalalla aquifer, which runs from west Texas to South Dakota and Wyoming. A report in Reuters quoted Jerald Schnoor, a University of Iowa professor of environmental engineering, who chaired the committee that produced the report. Schnoor said that extensive parts of the aquifer are showing drops in the water table of more than 100 feet.
US ethanol production is centered, however, on the much deeper Prairie Du Chien-Jordan and other aquifers, which supply Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and are not under threat.
The map shown below of the US aquifer system is available from the US government. The Ogallala aquifer is shown in blue.
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