Kansas Water Authority casts historic vote

On December 14, voting members of the Kansas Water Authority, Topeka, Kansas, came to a historical conclusion. It’s time to stop draining the Ogallala aquifer.

“It is enormous,” Kansas Water Office director Connie Owen tells High Plains Public Radio in an article. “There has yet to be any state entity that has publicly acknowledged the problem … and made a statement that we can no longer behave as we have been.”

It’s the first time that the state entity has moved away from using the Ogallala aquifer, which is primarily used to irrigate crops.

“This should have been done 15 years ago,” Lynn Goossen, one of 13 KWA voting members, says. “It’s something that the longer we put it off, the more critical it’s going to be.”

Of the 13 voting members, only one dissented from making the official recommendation.

The dissenter, Randy Hayzlett, is from southwest Kansas and says that the wording of the recommendation is problematic.

The recommendation will be submitted to the legislature and governor in the Kansas Water Authority’s annual report.

Read more about sustainability.