>> No, it isn't a river but the water can move much like the water in rivers move.
Last time I checked, rivers don't usually run uphill.
Following is an excerpt from an article at DailyNebraskan.com
When James Goeke stood in western Nebraska for the first time, he thought it was the most desolate and desperate place he’d ever been. This was 1970 and Goeke had just joined the team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Conservation and Survey Division where he still works as a hydrologist. He never would have guessed it, but someday he would own a chunk of western Nebraska and cherish it as much as any person could.
Scattered around the state are close to 6,000 holes each about 5 inches in diameter drilled to the base of the Ogallala Aquifer. During the 1970s, Goeke drilled about 1,000 of those holes in the deepest part of the aquifer.
“I’ve seen more Ogallala than anybody else certainly in the Conservation and Survey Division,” he said.
The Ogallala Aquifer is 174,000 square miles of water-bearing sediment under Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming – one of the largest in the world.
The largest and deepest portion of the aquifer is in Nebraska. For a sense of how much water is really there, imagine this: Since the first use of the aquifer for farmland irrigation, Nebraskans have used less than half of 1 percent of their portion of the aquifer.
When TransCanada proposed the original Keystone XL pipeline route in May 2010, the Ogallala Aquifer, named for a site three miles east of Ogallala, Neb., caused a storm of great concern among scientists, activists, farmers, landowners and conservationists. Groups formed for the sole purpose of fighting the pipeline’s creation. Politicians demanded more information for their constituents. Protestors marched on Washington.
Goeke picked up his phone and called TransCanada, firing off every relevant question he could think of. After all, he knew what he was asking about. He has drilled more holes, a process that holds great importance in a range of scientific and economic decisions, in the Ogallala Aquifer than any other person.
He said TransCanada could answer every question and was honest and forthcoming. That didn’t immediately quiet all his reluctance, so he continued his research until he came to a conclusion: The Keystone XL pipeline is not a serious threat to the Ogallala Aquifer.
“A lot of people in the debate about the pipeline talk about how leakage would foul the water and ruin the entire water supply in the state of Nebraska and that’s just a false,” he said.
His explanation is simple.
Seventy-five to 80 percent of the aquifer lies west of the proposed pipeline route. The aquifer is sloped downward going east. If there were a spill, that entire section is unavailable to be harmed because water cannot move uphill. The 15 to 20 percent left, Goeke says, is in very little risk thanks to abundant fine-grain clays, sediment and sandstone separating the aquifer and potential contaminants from the pipeline.
While Goeke agrees 20 percent would be a problem, he thinks the chances of a leak reaching the aquifer are very minimal.
“It can’t get down to the water table because of the nature of the sediments in the unsaturated zone,” he said.
These are the relevant points: Water doesn't run uphill. Oil cannot get down to the water table. Hence, even in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY event of a substantial spill, you're not going to have significant damage to the aquifer. It is a fucking lie spewed by the left, not unlike the Global Warming nonsense. |
