Thursday, October 25, 2012: 10:00 a.m.
The Dakota aquifer system in Kansas extends across most of the western two-thirds of the state. Although groundwater in a large portion of the aquifer system is saline, substantial areas of north-central, central, and southwest Kansas contain usable water. The aquifer system includes sandstones of the Dakota and Kiowa formations and the Cheyenne Sandstone. Wells are also completed in the underlying Morrison-Dockum sandstones in the southwesternmost part of Kansas. The Dakota aquifer outcrops in north-central and central Kansas and underlies the High Plains-Ogallala aquifer (HPA) in much of southwest Kansas where many supply wells are screened in both the HPA and Dakota. Over 2,200 water right permitted wells in Kansas produce greater than 5% of their total yield from the Dakota aquifer; over 1,500 of these are in southwest Kansas. Permitted wells that are partially or solely screened in the Dakota in southwest Kansas comprise about 10.6% of the wells in all aquifers in that region. Nearly 90% of the partial or sole Dakota wells with water right permits in southwest Kansas are used for irrigation. The mean annual water use from the Dakota aquifer by permitted wells in Kansas is estimated as about 117,000 acre-ft/yr. This amount comprises around 5% of the total water use by permitted wells in the 36 counties in Kansas where the Dakota aquifer is used. An increasing number of the wells in southwest Kansas that were screened in the HPA are being deepened to be also screened in the underlying Dakota aquifer.
