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KFB president says water quality an ongoing challenge in Kansas

The president of Kansas Farm Bureau says water quality continue to be a challenge throughout the state.

Joe Newland tells Brownfield the concerns are vastly different depending on location.

“We’re doing some preliminary testing as far as water injection on the Tuttle Creek Reservoir by Manhattan to see if we can clean out some of that sludge. On the Ogallala Aquifer, we’re looking at what kind of conservation practices more that we can implement,” he says.

Newland says some communities in western Kansas have had to construct new water plants to reduce runoff into the Ogallala Aquifer.

“We want to be able to help those communities have a better, safer water source, looking at domestic water wells, make sure everybody is testing those water wells to make sure they’re safe,” he says.

A bill introduced into the Kansas Legislature would transfer $5 million annually from the state’s general fund through 2028 to support water infrastructure improvement projects aimed at conserving water levels within the aquifer.