Monday, October 13, 2008 : 2:00 p.m.

Slowly Conserving the Kansas High Plains Aquifer

Susan G. Stover, M.S., Kansas Water Office

The Kansas Water Plan adopted a policy to conserve and extend the life of the Ogallala High Plains aquifer.  The aquifer is highly developed, primarily for irrigation, and has been declining for decades.  To achieve a near sustainable use would require 75% or more in reductions, an unacceptable solution for the current economy.  The Groundwater Management District (GMD) managers are working to define priority aquifer subunits, and set specific, stakeholder accepted goals for management. 

 Supporting this policy, Kansas initiated a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) December, 2007, in the Upper Arkansas River basin, a region stressed from low river flows, a declining aquifer and intense irrigation withdrawals.  The USDA – State partnership provides payments to landowners/producers for enrollment of eligible irrigated acres into 14-15 year contracts.  A condition of enrollment is the associated water right be permanently terminated, and the land put into a conservation practices. There is widespread support for CREP. Over 12,000 acres were offered for enrollment the first week.

 The CREP was initially negotiated with USDA as a 100,000 acre program.  State dollars improving the efficiency of the Arkansas River delivery system were leveraged as state contribution towards the program.  Additional state dollars are used for payments to participants.  The State Legislature reviewed the CREP proposal, and heated debates ensued on the wisdom of allowing CREP to be offered.  Some legislators cited the negative economic impact of removing any acres from production.  A compromise permitted Kansas to enter into a 20,000 acres program, and accept enrollment through June, 2008.  Although the hydrologic declines were explained to the law makers, the decision was to protect short term economic benefits of the aquifer, thus reducing federal payments by over $100 million by limiting the program size.   For now, the risk of drying the wells 25 years out isn’t top priority.

Susan G. Stover, M.S., Kansas Water Office Susan Stover is a licensed geologist and planning manager at the Kansas Water Office. She heads up a team addressing High Plains aquifer issues. She was lead on development of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, a potentially significant program. Ms. Stover graduated with honors in geology from the University of Kansas (M.S.) and University of Nebraska (B.A.). She has worked for the State on environmental and water conservation issues for 15 years.


The NGWA International Conference on Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources — Sociotechnological Aspects of Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources: Half-Empty, Half-Full, Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Some Paths Forward