The Kansas water plan and sediment treatment were a pair of topics amongst a lengthy list of items for the Kansas Water Authority as the board convened in Emporia Wednesday.
During a break in the meeting, Kansas Water Office Director Connie Owen spoke with KVOE News regarding the state’s water plan. According to Owen, needed updates to the plan are currently in development for the first time in over a decade.
Owen says the plan has not seen a major update since 2009 due in large part to former Governor Sam Brownback’s 50-year vision plan taking focus away from the document. Owen says the plan is vital to all Kansas residents and therefore has had a tremendous amount of input from multiple sources.
The plan is currently in a “draft phase” and once completed will go before the Kansas Water Authority for final approval. On the topic of sediment in Kansas reservoirs, Owen says the situation is severe at this time.
In response to this development, Owen says the state is working with the Kansas Corps of Army Engineers to secure funding for a new source of technology to conduct water injection dredging. Unlike traditional dredging, the new technology stirs up sediment in the bottom of a lake or reservoir mimicking the motion of a river that is not damned.
Owen says the new technology could significantly cut down on the level of sediment that accumulates in lakes and reservoirs thus reducing the amount of water that is lost on a regular basis. A timeline for the implementation of the new technology is not currently available.
For more information on the Kansas Water Office or state water matters visit KWO.ks.gov.
