K-State creating tools to show how decisions about aquifer affect people, local economies

When water use policies and practices change, they produce a ripple effect in communities, impacting everything from what types of crops a farmer will grow to how many people will move in or out of a town.

That's why Kansas State University is pooling experts from multiple disciplines to understand how these changes affect people in communities that depend on the Ogallala Aquifer in western Kansas.

David Steward, associate professor of civil engineering, is leading the team of K-State experts in fields as diverse as agronomy, computer science and sociology. Using a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the team is developing a scientific understanding of how changes in policy and water use practices could sustain the aquifer without jeopardizing the viability of the Kansas towns and people depending on it as an abundant source of water.

The interdisciplinary team is creating tools that can predict the consequences that water policy decisions would have on all aspects of a community, from the viability of the local economy to land use practices. These tools will help policymakers understand the how their decisions about the Ogallala Aquifer could play out for people living in communities that depend on the water source.

"One of the things that we're trying to do is develop information that can be used in risk assessment," Steward said. "Some of the policies that we will be looking at are rules the state already has in place that could be enforced now. We're trying to understand what the impacts of those are, not just on the water supply, crops and cattle production, but also on people."

The Ogallala Aquifer, which lies underneath southwest Kansas, is one of the world's largest underground sources of fresh water. The water source offsets the region's dry climate and supports irrigated crops, the meat packing industry and the Kansans for whom such agricultural practices are their livelihood and the backbone of their towns' economies.