“The six states facing the most serious groundwater crises”– that was the title of an article I came across earlier in the month while perusing the internet.

My first thought when I saw this was “oh boy, where do you think Oklahoma ranks?”

The good news is that Oklahoma didn’t make the list of the top six states in decline.

The bad news is that we were among the states listed as “honorable mentions.”

This should come as no great surprise. If you follow natural resource issues, you already know that declining groundwater levels are a looming challenge that face many, if not most of our nation’s aquifers.

This includes those that impact Oklahoma.

Just last fall I wrote about a 2013 study by Kansas State University that determined nearly 70% of the water in the Ogallala Aquifer under Kansas will be gone by 2060 if nothing changes.

In Texas, where aquifer levels in most locations are already lower, it’s anticipated that these shallower levels will decline by over 50%...and of course our state is right in the middle.

But the Ogallala isn’t the only aquifer in Oklahoma.

Across the state we continue to see more and more pressure put on our groundwater resources.

In Oklahoma, as elsewhere, average temperatures continue to rise, populations continue to grow and lake levels continue to decline (this will be especially true if we switch over into another La Niña pattern later this year).

On top of all this, the water demands from industries like agriculture, mining and oil and gas are not going away.

So, what do we do? Well, hiding our heads in the sand sure isn’t going to solve the problem.

The first thing all of us need to do - that includes policy makers, agriculture producers, the energy industry and general citizens - is to recognize that this challenge isn’t going away.

We need to take a serious look at what our water needs are today and put real thought into how we can maintain this precious resource moving forward.

Maybe a good place to start would be to revisit some of the recommendations that were generated back in 2015 as part of the Water For 2060 Report – a document generated as a result of legislation designed to significantly reduce annual water usage in Oklahoma to the point where we were using the same amount in the year 2060 that we did in 2012.

This report included recommendations ranging from simply developing public education and outreach materials (as well as a statewide water conserva-tion campaign) to encouraging public water systems to look at regionalization and supply sharing.

It also had suggestions on the creation of water use best practices guidance for the energy industry and for the creation of programs to help ag producers adopt more water-efficient crop irrigation systems and practices.

Since this report was generated, the state has taken some action in these areas but more needs to be done.

We need a serious focus not just on how we can maintain our groundwater supplies moving forward, but on how we are going to protect all of our natural resources while continuing to grow our economy.

These problems aren’t going away and they aren’t going to get easier.

The quicker we take them head-on, the better off we will be.

Clay Pope is a natural resource consultant. The opinions expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his current or former employers. You can read more from Clay and listen to his podcast at https:// southernplainsperspective. wordpress.com/.