Aquifer numbers down in recent survey

Groundwater sources low because of irrigating large farms.

By Nathan Gill

Monday, April 16, 2007

A recent survey of Kansas aquifers, vital to the existence of farms, towns and industries in western and central Kansas, showed a trend of continuing decline last year. In some areas aquifers averaged a drop of more than two feet.

“I’d argue that it’s the biggest natural resource issue facing Kansas,” Rex Buchanan, associate director of the Kansas Geological Survey, said about declining Kansas groundwater sources. “Kansas depends more on groundwater than on any other state in the country.”

The annual survey, performed by the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas, and the Kansas Department of Agriculture measured the depths of about 1,400 high-volume Kansas wells. Buchanan said major factors that influence water levels were precipitation rates, energy costs associated with pumping water and corn prices.

Brownie Wilson, a Kansas Geological Survey researcher who assisted in the survey, said that most groundwater in western Kansas was used to irrigate large farms, but that industries and towns depended on aquifers as primary water sources as well.

“They pour you a glass of water in a restaurant, it comes from the ground,” Wilson said.

Mark Rude, executive director of Groundwater Management District No. 3 in southwest Kansas, said that 95 percent of the water used in his district went to irrigating crops and that half of Kansas’ irrigated crop acres were in his district. He said that a rise in corn prices, fueled by the ethanol boom, has caused farmers to plant more corn, a non-native plant that depends on extensive irrigation to survive in the dry Kansas west. Recent droughts, which force farmers to rely more on aquifers, are also contributing to the decline, Rude said.

“It’s going to be pumped, so we’re going to see more declines,” said Rude, whose district has half a dozen planned or existing ethanol plants.

Sharon Falk, manager of Groundwater Management District No. 5 in central Kansas, said aquifers in her district have seen significant declines since 2000, mostly because of drought. She said the state’s main tool for water management was certifications called water rights that dictate the rate, quantity and place groundwater can be used.

Falk said that if farmers or other groundwater users pumped more from their wells than their water right allowed, the state could force them to adopt a conservation plan, fine them up to $1,000 or, if a habitual offender, temporarily shut down their farm.

pullquote

We’re aggressively addressing that problem more and more every year. It’s the life blood of this area.

-Sharon Falk, manager of Groundwater Management District No. 5

“We’re aggressively addressing that problem more and more every year,” Falk said. “It’s the life blood of this area.”

Kansas groundwater experts at the various management districts and Kansas Groundwater Survey are unsure how long Kansas groundwater would last.

“There’s a lot of things in flux here, but one thing that’s staying constant is our depletion of water,” Rude said.

Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan.com.

­— Edited by Carissa Pedigo

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