Water sits beneath farmland, but who owns it?

The land John Childears farms near North Platte is sandy, not particularly fertile, less than ideal.

But the value of his land largely lies beneath his feet: the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest in the world.

Childears recently harvested corn at 225 bushels per acre, utilizing center pivots he put in and, crucially, his irrigation wells, including one dug before he bought the land three decades ago.