Brownback: Better Practices Aimed At Conserving Water Future Of Kansas Ag

By Angie Haflich • Nov 12, 2017

Credit usgs.org

Sustainable irrigation and better field management practices to reduce the degradation of reservoirs are something Gov. Sam Brownback is foreseeing as the future of Kansas agriculture.

As The Topeka Capital-Journal reports, Brownback predicted greater public support for both practices at the Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water in Manhattan Wednesday.

Brownback said development of a conservationist’s mentality, including widespread use of technology to monitor soil moisture levels, will reduce water consumption and expand crop yields. He also said stream-bed restoration projects could slow the flow of nitrogen and phosphorous from fields that choke reservoirs with sediment and contributes to algae-bloom problems.

2013 legislation allowed water-right owners to form a Local Enhanced Management Area, or LEMA, to limit water use in a specific region to reduce the rate of groundwater decline and Brownback expressed gratitude to lawmakers for more recent bills that repealed a state law requiring irrigation water rights to be used or risk losing the privilege. 

Tags: 
Ogallala Aquifer
Conserving water

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