Area producers describe a change in mindset toward greater enthusiasm for voluntary groundwater conservation.
The give-and-take of formal and informal conversations generated an iterative process of deliberation and negotiation through which producers recognized that there is a shared problem with groundwater. The outcome was a plan to conserve groundwater through the Sheridan 6 Local Enhanced Management Area.
A LEMA is a Kansas legal tool under which producers voluntarily draw up a contract with rules on water use. Upon approval by the local Groundwater Management District and the chief engineer, this contract becomes binding on all producers in the geographic area.
Established in 2013, the locally
developed Sheridan 6 LEMA is broadly supported, as it respects the values of upholding the “community social contract” and “rugged individualism.” So far, participating producers tend to believe that they have become better groundwater managers. One producer remarked, for example, that “you don’t see irrigation pivots running after a rainstorm anymore.”
Area producers are also encouraged by recent findings from the Kansas Geological Survey, which show that the Ogallala Aquifer in their LEMA is declining much more slowly, and perhaps even rising slightly, compared to adjacent areas.
Area producers describe a change in mindset toward greater enthusiasm for voluntary groundwater conservation. According to one producer, “I think about [water] all the time. In many ways, we’re 15 to 20 years too late. But I think about it like an NFL quarterback. No, you don’t forget about the last play, but you always move forward and focus on what you can do now ... we’re all doing our part to keep our families and traditions afloat, maintain what we have and pass it on.”
Meanwhile, similar efforts are emerging in other areas over the aquifer.
In Wichita County, Kansas, the Ogallala Aquifer is 65 percent depleted and recharges extremely slowly. At current use rates, the aquifer will not be viable for irrigation in 20 years, but some farms are already unable to pump enough groundwater to irrigate.
We heard stories of families that have abandoned the homesteads that their great-great-grandparents built because the domestic wells ran dry, and it was
18 Irrigation TODAY | April 2018
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