University Daily Kansan
Friday, November 18, 1977
13
Ample water supplies in Kansas sandstone
By DICK DODSON
Staff Writer
A common description of Kansas is that it is a desolate, dry state, but a recently published geological report may change that.
A report done by the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) estimates that there are from 70 to 80 million acre-feet of fresh water and from 10 to 15 million acre-feet of slightly saline water available in underground mineral resources in Central and Western Kansas.
An acre-foot is equivalent to an acre of land covered by a foot of water.
The report, "Ground Water from the Lower Cretaceous Rocks in Kansas," said that the underground resources were available in several counties in Central and Western Kansas and could be used by farmers and others in the state.
Done in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, the report noted that wells in the state already were drawing water from an underground source a minute from the sandstone formation.
HOWARD O'CONNOR, a senior geologist for the KGS, which is on West Campus, said the newly found water supply was equal to about 18 times the annual flow of the Kansas
"This report describes, categorizes and logs all available information about the quantity and quality of the water in the sandstone formation, and how important it may become to use it in the future," O'Connor said.
"Presently most of the water in the state is pumped from an underground formation in Western Kansas, known as the Ogallala formation."
He said the Ogallala was the principal water flow bed in Western Kansas. Most
irrigation in Kansas is in the western third of the state and uses this formation.
"THE NEW SOURCE of water in these lower cretaceous rocks will provide an additional source of water for use in the state," O'Connor said. "It is primarily for the western part of the state since rainfall is greater than in the eastern portion of the state."
O'Connor said that it was economically impossible to pump all the water out of the Ogallala but that having another source of water was good for the state's future.
O'Connor said the newly discovered supply of saline water was more suitable for the treatment of seawater.
He said as the Ogallala water supply was depleted it would become more costly to pump it out because it was deeper in the ground and drilling costs are expensive.
The high cost of changing saline water into fresh water will determine how much of the less pure form will be used in the future, he said.
The amount of water still available, in the Ogallala and the amount of money needed to pump it out also will decide the extent to the new supply of water will be used, he said.
Every January the KGS, in cooperation with the U.S. Geographical Survey and the Kansas State Division of Water Resources, measures the water levels in 1,100 wells of the Ogallala formation to determine how much water still is available.
"If water levels continue to decline in significant parts of the Ogallala formation, the use of these sandstone resources will probably increase," he said.
"We (KGS), and other state geological agencies, try to stay ahead of the actual demand for information in the state. And we want a new form of this additional water supply."
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