AUSTIN, Texas - Researchers at the University of Texas have issued a study, predicting that extreme groundwater depletion in parts of Kansas and Texas could make growing irrigated crops like corn unsustainable within the next three decades.
     The study uses a mix of computer models, NASA satellite imagery, and water well readings.
     The study finds that only 4% of the land area is sucking up 35% of the groundwater, with most of that water depletion taking place in Kansas and Texas.
     And this year's weather outlook for the Corn Belt is dreary. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has rated the overwhelming majority of the land in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas as "abnormally dry to moderate drought."