Kansas Water Office unveils implementation framework aiming for a rolling 50-year water supply

Julie Lorenz, project manager for the interagency implementation effort, told the House Committee on Water that the Kansas Water Office and partner agencies have drafted a strategic implementation framework to move the 2022 Kansas Water Plan from policy into measurable action.

Lorenz said the framework establishes a two-year ramp-up period to build capacity, set metrics and refine programs before a longer ten-year program intended to deliver measurable progress toward a rolling 50-year water-supply goal for Kansas communities.

Nut graf: The framework is meant to be both "bold and practical," Lorenz said — pairing a long-term, generational goal with incremental, two-year accountability cycles and specific outcomes to guide funding and program design.

Lorenz told the committee the team engaged more than 1,500 Kansans and more than 50 stakeholder groups during the development of the framework and identified 43 two-year outcomes and eight core recommendations to support the plan's implementation. She said the framework tests different investment scenarios (including a $60 million and $140 million annual scenario) to show what could be accomplished at different funding levels and that communities supported a ramp-up to ensure programs can be administered effectively.

Lorenz framed the effort as a rolling target: by 2035 the state would measure progress toward ensuring communities have a 50-year water supply and then extend the endpoint forward so the target remains a 50-year horizon in successive decades. She emphasized outcome measurement and periodic public reporting so legislators and residents can see how money is used and what results are achieved.

Subcommittee members asked about priorities and metrics; Lorenz pointed to planned pilot and scale-up examples such as irrigation-technology cost-share programs where the framework would set specific short-term and 10-year targets (for example, number of systems upgraded, percentage water-use reductions and measures of economic viability for producers).

Lorenz closed by describing the generational rationale behind the 50-year view: she recounted students and stakeholders who urged policymakers to preserve water for future Kansans and urged the committee to pair ambition with measurable near-term steps.

Ending: Chair Jim Minnicks and members indicated they would request more detailed follow-up work and that the Water Authority would present its annual report and more implementation detail in the committee next week.