Jonathan Zweygardt
Hays Post

With water issues affecting the entire state of Kansas the Governor’s Water Vision Team is holding meetings to get input from local officials and residents and on Monday the Vision Team held a public meeting at Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays to hear from area stakeholders. 

Susan Metzger, Chief of Planning and Policy at the Kansas Water Office said they invited Hays area public works officials as a way to get direct input from Kansans:

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John Voss, Water and Wastewater Superintendent in Stockton was one of the roughly 70 people in attendance Monday and said these meetings are a good way to get input on water conservation.

“Nobody wants to have their pocketbook affected,” Voss said “but unfortunately water conservation is going to affect a lot of irrigators, it’s gonna affect a lot of businesses and economic development in western Kansas.”

Voss also said that he believes there are good ideas coming from these meetings. He said using the aquifer or groundwater levels as a place to store excess water was a very intriguing idea discussed at the meeting, although he said he wasn’t sure about the feasibility of the idea.

The Vision team’s meetings with stakeholders will continue through April with Governor Sam Brownback holding his conference on the future of water in October before the final vision is due in November. You can find a list of more meetings at kwo.org.