Since 2018, PLJV has been working with a diverse group of organizations and individuals in Kansas to proactively address declining municipal water supplies for Leoti and Tribune by helping landowners voluntarily restore playas near municipal and domestic wells, improve irrigation efficiency, reduce pumping, retire wells, and transition to dryland cropping systems.
To date, the partner-driven effort has restored over 1,140 acres of playas in the counties where these towns are located. That includes 31 playas restored through the USDA Migratory Birds, Butterflies and Pollinators State Acres for Wildlife CRP practice, one of which will be used as a demonstration site near Leoti. In addition, the county road maintenance department installed water conveyance features under roads which allows water from the surrounding watershed to flow into five playas and increase aquifer recharge through those playas, as well as reduces road maintenance.
The partnership has also worked to reduce irrigation as part of the overall water management plan. Using the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Conservation Water Right Transition Assistance Program (WTAP), several irrigation wells have been retired near Tribune and Leoti, saving 278 million and 97 million gallons of water annually.
These conservation efforts have been made possible through a $250,000 Wildlife Conservation Society Climate Adaptation grant to support communications, outreach and playa restoration; a $457,600 Conservation Collaboration Cooperative Agreement with Kansas Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to provide education and support for landowners and partners on irrigation efficiency; and a $1.4 million NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) award to implement the Groundwater Recharge and Sustainability Program.
“We all know communities will not survive without water,” said Bill Simshauser, executive board member of the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts, “and the way to ensure a viable water supply is through conservation. This effort brings together a diverse group of like-minded partners — conservation organizations and agencies, landowners and producers, county, community, and municipal authorities — who are all concerned over the decline of the Ogallala Aquifer and want to help create a sustainable water supply for our communities.”