A proverbial Who’s Who of water management in the High Plains region is expected for the 2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit, set for March 18-19 at the Seward County Fairgrounds in Liberal, Kansas.
The conference marks the third time that an inter-disciplinary group of water specialists, users, regulators and others from eight states will gather to discuss the condition of the mighty Ogallala, a vast underground reservoir that covers 174,000 square miles and touches parts of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.
“One of the key values that I see to the Ogallala Aquifer Summit is the opportunity to hear from other states on the condition of the aquifer in their region, discuss shared challenges and learn ideas that may be adapted to Kansas in order to improve our water management,” said Susan Metzger, director of the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, and the Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State University.
Registration is available online at www.irrigationinnovation.org/2024-ogallala-summit. The cost is $150, which includes meals and all conference sessions.
Metzger said this is the third time that the Summit has been held, each three years apart beginning in 2018. It is organized by the Irrigation Innovation Consortium, a group of water researchers and management specialists mostly working at universities throughout the eight-state region.
The Ogallala Aquifer is critical to the economies of the regions it touches. It is estimated that 95% of groundwater pumped from the aquifer each year is for irrigated agriculture, though it also supports livestock and municipal needs. The aquifer supports approximately $35 billion in crop production.
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