Despite recent rainfalls, aquifers that supply Hays still need water

By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

Despite two significant June rainfalls in Hays, Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty said the Smoky Hill aquifer has yet to recharge. Dougherty said the city was hoping to see “some sort of a flow” in the Smoky Hill River, which would have provided needed water for city users — but it didn’t happen.

Even after the June 4 rain, the following morning, the Smoky Hill River was dry. Photo courtesy City of Hays. — Even after the June 4 rain, the Smoky Hill River was dry the following morning. Photo courtesy City of Hays.

“When you look at the rainfall totals, with the rain we got a few days ago and the rain we got on Tuesday, the areas around and to the west of Hays received in some cases three times as the areas in the southern part of the county,” Dougherty said.

The aquifer and river are located in those areas of Ellis County.

Dougherty said without enough rain in the right places, there is no runoff into the aquifer, which provides water to the city of Hays. Because the approximately 5 inches of June rain fell in the wrong areas, the aquifer did not recharge.

The city will now depend upon a “significant rain event” in either the Smoky Hill wellfield at Schoenchen or the Cedar Bluff Reservoir, Dougherty said. Because the reservoir blocks the stream, anything west of Cedar Bluff will not make it to the Hays water supply.

“There is a clearly defined drainage area between the Cedar Bluff Reservoir and the Smoky Hill wellfield where the rainfall has to fall,” Daugherty said, “and it’s not a very big area.”

Dougherty did say that one good rainfall event in “the right area, at the right place” could help bring the Smoky Hill aquifer levels to normal levels, but the Big Creek aquifer is more of a “slower depleting” aquifer and, therefore, it will take longer to recharge.

“It’s going to take multiple rainfalls and a prolonged flow to actually recharge those wells,” Dougherty said. “So in regards to the situation right now, one or two rains is not going to change anything.”

Dougherty said the Big Creek wells took around four years to get to their current levels, and it’ll probably take another couple of years to get them back to previous levels.

Hays remains in a Stage 2 water warning, which, among other restrictions, limits outdoor watering between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.