Waters of Kansas

Produced by the Kansas Natural Resource Council and Filmmaker, Christie Dobson with the support of an HK Humanities For All Grant.

Part 1: Cheyenne Bottoms

Cheyenne Bottoms is the largest inland wetland in the United States, which attracts diverse wildlife to the central region of Kansas. Although there were plans in the early 20^th century to transform Cheyenne Bottoms into a drinking water and irrigation reservoir, the region has sought to conserve the environment and its accompanying wildlife from irrigation and other draining pursuits.

Part 2: Farming Over the Ogallala

There are 39,000 irrigation wells in Kansas alone, so water for commercial and domestic use is a massive issue within the state of Kansas. Although agriculture is one of our nation’s largest exports, it is also the largest drains on our nation’s aquifers. In an effort to conserve the water of the Ogallala Aquifer, farmers are making adjustments from changing the crops they grow to their irrigation techniques.

Learn more about the challenges facing farmers and water conservationists in Farming Over the Ogallala.

Part 3: Our Shrinking Reservoirs

In Kansas alone, there are 24 federal water reservoirs to maintain enough water in our state continuously support our commercial and domestic water usage. These reservoirs are part of our states infrastructure and will need to be tended to and fixed over the next several years. However, there reservoir maintenance faces many challenges from expense to overuse.

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