(AP) – Kansas water officials are describing a series of proposed changes in state policies as a commonsense approach to encouraging conservation and extending the life of the Ogallala Aquifer.

Four public meetings will be held across the state about the proposal including two meetings in western Kansas Tuesday, December 13:  Garden City, Lee Richardson Zoo, Finnup Center, 9:30a.m. and Colby, Colby Community College, Frahm Theatre, 2p.m.

Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing four changes to the 2012 Legislature aimed at removing disincentives to conservation and improving water management.

One change would be to ditch a use-it-or-lose-it policy for water rights holders that required them to pump a certain amount of water each year or forfeit their rights. The policy dates to the 1940s when some of the state’s first water rules were implemented.

Joe Spease of the Kansas chapter of the Sierra Club says the changes have the potential to help preserve water in the state, but that the administration’s support for energy development runs contradictory to those proposals.