Kansas Water Task Force to Gauge Current and Future Supply, Modernize Policy

By Anna Kaminski 

TOPEKA — A water task force meant to ensure the “precious resource is available for generations to come” received its first members this week.

The 16-member panel of Republican and Democratic legislators, state officials, and a handful of appointees from both parties will craft policy changes in an effort to evaluate Kansas’ current and future water supply, funding efforts for water projects, and potential impacts on the state’s economy.

Republicans announced their appointments Wednesday, which included an official from utility company Evergy, an environmental consultant and the manager of a public groundwater management district in northwest Kansas.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican said these members are experts in the field with intricate understandings of water issues.

“Water is the essence of life, the foundation upon which Kansas thrives — sustaining our fields, fueling our communities, and nourishing our future — and truly runs through every decision we make, from agriculture to economic development,” Masterson said.

The task force was born out of House Bill 2172, which passed the Senate in March with unanimous bipartisan support and the House with eight Republicans voting against it. The bill had no opponents in committee hearings.

The task force’s water policy recommendations will begin with a preliminary report due by the end of January and end with a final report that must be submitted to the governor and the Legislature by the end of January 2027.

Within the next two months, the task force members must appoint people to a subgroup that would be responsible for modernizing the State Water Resources Planning Act.

The subgroup’s members must be attorneys, engineers, hydrologists, natural resource planners or others with experience with Kansas water issues, according to the legislation.

First passed in 1963 and revamped in the 1980s, the State Water Resources Planning Act and the State Water Plan guide Kansas water management, conservation and development efforts. With drought becoming increasingly apparent in western and central Kansas, including the depletion of the High Plains Aquifer, the task force will address the state’s current and future water needs.

A focus on agriculture and industry is especially important, said House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican.

“To say water is vital to Kansas agriculture, business, and communities would be an understatement, and the input from this task force will be key to ensuring this precious resource is available for generations to come,” he said in a Thursday news release.

Gov. Laura Kelly, in her own news release distributed upon signing the task force bill into law in April, said the task force enables lawmakers to evaluate risks to Kansas’ water quality and quantity through a funded, bipartisan group.

“Developing a comprehensive, long-term, and sustainable water program is long overdue and a significant step forward in ensuring Kansas’ water supply is preserved for generations to come,” she said.

Republican leadership’s appointees included three Republican legislators; Jared Morrison, director of Evergy’s water and waste programs; Kansas Chamber board chair Karma Mason; and Shannon Kenyon, the manager of Groundwater Management District No. 4 in northwest Kansas.

Democratic leadership on Tuesday appointed Josh Svaty, a former state legislator and former state agriculture secretary, and Heidi Mehl, the Kansas director of water and agriculture for the Nature Conservancy, an international environmental organization.

The task force also will include three nonvoting members from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Water Office and the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

Kansas Reflector is part of the States Newsroom, a network of similar news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.