12/5/2019 2019 Report to the Administration ARCA Annual Meeting Mark Rude, Executive Director Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 3 KS Groundwater Management Districts 1
12/5/2019 GMD3 Management Program Update http://www.gmd3.org/what-we-do/management-program/ 2
12/5/2019 Mobile Drip irrigation; managing water by the drop on the High Plains See video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yT9yiyjB-4 and also at 3
12/5/2019 Water Quality of the Upper Arkansas River and Impact on Aquifer Water Quality Lakin Meeting February 25, 2014 Don Whittemore • SOURCE OF SALINITY AND URANIUM IN RIVER Main natural source: Weathering of marine Cretaceous shales containing gypsum and sulfides in Colorado. Human sources: Insignificant. • CAUSE OF HIGH SALINITY AND URANIUM LEVELS Human: Concentration of dissolved salts by consumption of water by evapotranspiration associated with extensive irrigated agriculture and shallow reservoirs. Natural: In absence of human activities, salinity and uranium concentration would be 3 to 4 times lower. 4
12/5/2019 Probability of Uranium Exceeding 30 µg/L in Groundwater Miller, Watts, Ortiz, and Ivahnenko, USGS Sci. Invest. Rep. 2010-5069 Water contamination reduces usability. Average Average annual Average Annual Annual annual uranium annual uranium uranium Sp.C., concentration, flow, load, load, Year µS/cm µg/L ft 3 /sec ton/yr lbs/yr 2012 4,271 73.0 28.7 2.07 4,140 2013 4,395 75.9 26.9 2.01 4,020 2014 3,813 62.7 92.1 5.68 11,400 2015 3,230 50.1 196.1 9.68 19,400 2016 3,285 51.3 201.5 10.20 20,400 2017 3,324 52.1 234.6 12.03 24,100 2018 3,409 53.9 206.6 10.96 21,900 KGS Open-File Report 2017-2, updated January 2019. Uranium/ mineralization concern River flow into GMD3 is a functional equivalent point source discharge into the High Plains Aquifer 5
12/5/2019 2019 - HR 6018 & SR 1729 Ark River basin is shared with Colorado Flows enter but don’t leave GMD3 Ark River basin is closed in SW Kansas Kansas Legislature 2019 Kansas Legislature 2019 Kansas Legislature 2019 Kansas Legislature 2019 - - - - HR 6018 & SR 1729 HR 6018 & SR 1729 HR 6018 & SR 1729 HR 6018 & SR 1729 • Request Kansas Congressional Delegation work with Congress to provide funding and direction to Reclamation to implement basin efforts that include: • Compiling information on usable sources and demands. • Developing basin tools. • System reliability and impact analyses on current and future capacity of all infrastructure. • Identifying adaptation strategies to improve operations and infrastructure. • Develop recommendations to address water quality challenges and provide safe drinking water. • Request state and local partners in Colorado and Kansas work with Reclamation to complete these tasks and address the concerns regarding the contamination of the Arkansas River Basin. 6
12/5/2019 GMD3 2020 Federal Legislation initiative • Issues: • Water quantity and quality in shared basin and High Plains. • Devastating floods reoccurring east of the High Plains expected to get worse with climate shifts to a drier southwestern US and wetter Missouri and Mississippi river basin. • Struggling agricultural and rural economies. • Need to improve natural and man-made infrastructure for drought resiliency. • Ask: • Federal funding and partners to re-evaluate elements of the 1982 High Plains Study • Originally authorized in 1976 WRDA Bill. • An example of federal study support for feasibility of management alternatives to assure national interest in food security and water supplies projected to year 2020. • Establish a set of water transfer elements from which Kansas, Colorado and western partners can work. • Help to conserve flood waters to address shared Ark Basin concerns and other western quality, quantity, storage and drought resiliency needs. Interstate Water Transfers • Big improvements on the High Plains Study. • New water for Ark and adjacent basins. • Excess storage capacities. • Declining energy cost projections. • Shared demand concerns. 7
12/5/2019 Questions? • Updated in 2015 • Not this project… 8
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