That was what was happening in during the dust bowl. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl In the end we solved the problem mostly though trees (wind breaks) and a lot of geologic water. But long term some large scale irrigation can also solve the problem.
PS: There are also farming methods that mitigate the issue while using far less water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryland_farming), but they are still not nearly as common as they should be.
Over a 50-100 year timeline, I envision us using cheap renewable energy to replenish massive aquifers. While it seems far fetched, the US has the strategic oil reserve for times of need. Why would we ever consider water less strategic than fuel?
The Ogallala aquifer is approximately equal in water storage capacity to Lake Huron, but has 7 times more area and more arable surface land is within 500 m from it.
The downside is that it cannot be used to transport goods using container ships.
But it is being depleted more than six times as fast as it is being recharged. If anything qualifies as a strategic water reserve, that's it right there. What else would you call a gigantic underground lake underlying a huge number of farms that can all tap into it directly?
It's also the case that if you have the excess energy to generate fresh water to store for later you probably have less need to store energy and water for later.
I hope it doesn't particularly need to happen, but it will be interesting to see the water rights for the Great Lakes play out over time. Current law is pretty solid about not removing water from the watershed:
PS: There are also farming methods that mitigate the issue while using far less water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryland_farming), but they are still not nearly as common as they should be.