Kansas Department of Agriculture deputy director tells committee agriculture and water are inseparable, cites aquifer decline and irrigation demands

Kenzie Olson, deputy director of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, told the Committee on Water that agriculture and water are tightly linked and presented state data on production, exports and water use.

"We contribute approximately $88,000,000,000 each year to the state's economy," Olson said, noting agriculture employs about 13% of the state's workforce and that roughly 90% of Kansas land is in production. Citing USDA’s 2022 Farm Census and state monitoring, she said Kansas ranks highly in several commodity areas and exported about $4.6 billion in agricultural products in the referenced year.

Olson described Kansas’s water infrastructure and use: "We have roughly 10,000 miles in the state of Kansas of streams and rivers," 24 reservoirs, seven principal groundwater aquifers, and that "90% of all the water that's used in Kansas though comes is pumped from underground." She told the committee that irrigation accounts for about 84% of consumptive water use in the state, municipal uses 11%, industrial 3%, and that one inch of water over one acre equals 27,152 gallons. "In general, in 1 growing season, 1 acre of irrigated corn in western Kansas usually uses about 400,000 gallons of water in a season," Olson said.

On aquifer trends, Olson noted monitoring by the Kansas Geological Survey showing depletion of the High Plains (Ogallala) aquifer since the 1990s and emphasized that recharge does not match historic withdrawal rates. "We have new data... the graph here shows the depletion and the changes of the High Plains aquifer since 1996," she said, adding that the Kansas Geological Survey annually monitors wells and produces the data the state uses for planning.

Committee members used the presentation to raise related quality and infrastructure concerns. Representative Featherston contrasted different public messages about the aquifer across decades and said it surprised him how communications varied. Representative Pichney asked about a pictured sprinkler system; Olson said she was familiar with Dragon Line but "cannot confirm if that is a Dragon Line picture or not." Later in the meeting Representative Pichney confirmed the image was Dragon Line and said its developer, Moni Teeter of Ulysses, has marketed the system globally.

Representative Blakes updated the committee on infrastructure and water-quality problems in southeast Kansas, saying Caney recently received a 12‑mile pipeline connected to the Verdigris system but continues to face corrosion and leakage problems tied to legacy smelter chemicals. "They just have over a 100 boil orders this last year," Blakes said, and described local engineering reports that point to accelerated corrosion and pipe failures; he said replacing affected systems could cost on the order of $25,000,000 and that he is pursuing federal assistance and possible Superfund avenues.

Representative Peschney described local water-quality issues in southwest Kansas, saying a subdivision in her area switched from private wells to a city connection because of elevated uranium levels and noted the cost of treatment facilities for small communities. Representative Essex proposed an informational hearing after turnaround on municipal drinking water, specifically mentioning recent litigation over fluoride levels in drinking water as a subject for fact-finding.

Olson closed by urging the committee to consider long-term water monitoring and management, and committee leadership scheduled presentations from the Kansas Geological Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey at upcoming meetings.

The transcript records data, anecdotes and committee commentary; it does not include new regulatory decisions or final policy actions during this meeting.