Kansas economic conference awash in ideas for transforming state’s water policy
Paul Johnson, policy analyst of the Kansas Rural Center; Katie Durham, manager of Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1; and Susan Metzger, director of the Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State University, share water policy insights Oct. 23, 2025, at the Kansas Economic Policy Conference in Lawrence. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
LAWRENCE — In shadows of the massive Holcomb coal-fired power plant in southwest Kansas, researchers with the Kansas Geological Survey installed solar panels to test a theory about generating electricity on underused corners of center-pivot irrigated crop fields.
The experiment would blend interests of corn, sorghum and soybean farmers and address goals of renewable energy enthusiasts. The idea would be to keep growing irrigated crops while producing solar energy on adjacent ground and collecting moisture with gutters affixed to solar panels so water could be directed to the underground aquifer.
“What we hypothesize is that these systems could enhance groundwater recharge, generate substantial amounts of energy, reduce the climate footprint of agriculture while simultaneously providing economic benefits to the farm without displacing any production agriculture,” said Sam Zipper, assistant scientist at KGS and a geologist at KU.
He estimated adding solar panels to corners of 110 center-pivot fields could match production of electricity at the Holcomb plant.
The project was part of an $880,000 grant from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research’s program known as Seeding Solutions. It involves KU, Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Wheatland Electric Cooperative.
Zipper shared the integrated vision Thursday at the 2025 Kansas Economic Policy Conference at KU, “Ripple Effect: Water and the Kansas Economy.”
Other researchers delved into research on minimizing algae blooms tainting Kansas reservoirs that are key to supplying the state with drinking water and on development of plans for delivery of quality water in quantities necessary for the state’s well-being.
Donna Ginther, director of the KU Institute for Policy and Social Research, delivered a primer on the Kansas agriculture economy and its reliance on water access. Cattle prices, given a national beef shortage, continued to rise at the same time market prices of wheat, corn and sorghum tumbled.
In the past three years, she said, the price of sorghum fell 61%, the value of wheat declined 53% and the price paid for corn slumped 44%. China, traditionally a key destination for U.S. soybeans, has refused to purchase any in wake of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Many countries responded with tariffs of their own.
“A lot of this is retaliatory tariffs,” Ginther said. “If there are retaliatory tariffs, and there’s not international demand for Kansas products, those markets don’t necessarily come back. Sorting out the tariff situation is going to be really important to the ag economy going forward.”
Sam Zipper, assistant scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey, outlines research Oct. 23, 2025, during a conference at the University of Kansas, on the potential of installing solar panels in corners of circle-pivot irrigated fields to generate electricity and direct water to aquifer regeneration. (Photo by Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
Water policy development
Susan Metzger, director of the Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State, said water was a public good that warranted public investment.
“Water is the backbone to the rural Kansas economy. It’s in all of our best interests, no matter where we live in the state, that we invest in securing the future of that water supply,” Metzger said.
She said leadership of Kansas water policy was shared among the Kansas Water Office, Kansas Water Authority, Kansas Department of Agriculture, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as well as the Kansas Legislature and governor. The Legislature approved a two-year study of water issues, with the final report due in January 2027.
“With the organization we have, it makes it really hard to find your elbow room if you have a new idea,” Metzger said. “It’s really confusing to figure out whose space is whose, but nobody has really figured out the best reorganization strategy that would make it more efficient.”
Paul Johnson, a farmer serving as policy analyst for the Kansas Rural Center, said the conference ought to be used as a catalyst for a comprehensive debate about the state’s water resources. He said Kansas’ local, state and federal officials had to recognize the result of federal Farm Bill policy delivering $1.3 billion annually in payments to farmers. Those payments incentivize wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans, he said.
He said about 5,300 farmers in Kansas were responsible for irrigating 2.3 million acres of crops and consuming an estimated two-thirds of the state’s water. In addition, he said, commitment to these crops led to farming practices that washed away topsoil that eventually became sediment in reservoirs central to Kansas’ water supply.
“The Farm Bill drives cropping patterns in Kansas,” Johnson said. “We have to have a meaningful debate.”
He said Kansas policymakers had to accept that too many water rights were issued to landowners from the 1940s to 1980s. Excessive deployment of water rights fueled withdrawal of too much water from the Ogallala Aquifer, which has been in decline for decades. It could be time for the state to determine whether water rights were legally a property right and if the state was willing to buy back a portion of water rights, he said.
Katie Durham, manager of Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1, said compelling top-down changes to use of water by Kansas agriculture could backfire.
“The producers want it to be a local solution,” she said. “The producers want it to be something they come up with.”
Urban water priorities
Hays city manager Toby Dougherty, who presides over the only major city in Kansas without an adequate local source of water, said the Legislature ought to come to the aid of Hays. In 1995, Hays bought a 7,000-acre parcel about 70 miles south of the city that included 8,000 acre feet of water rights. The city of Russell, which has also been susceptible to drought, bought an 18% stake in that property.
In 2014, Dougherty was authorized by the two city governments to begin the regulatory process of converting those water rights to municipal use. That triggered an 11-year legal and regulatory conflict tied to the Kansas Water Transfer Act, which outlined the oversight process for transfer of more than 2,000 acre feet of water rights a distance greater than 35 miles.
He said the Legislature ought to repeal the statute because it improperly interfered in Hays and Russell securing a reliable water supply.
“If you have time, Google ‘pipeline map of Kansas’ and look at the amount of oil and gas pipelines we have across Kansas moving commodities,” he said. “Look at a train as it goes by next time. Look at all the grain cars on that train. When you see trucks going down the road, look at the cattle and the beef in those trucks. Yet somehow, when two cities, who are trying to provide water for the future, want to move that water more than 35 miles, we are kind of treated as a foreign actor.”
Gary Janzen, director of public works and utilities in Wichita, said more research should be conducted in purification systems that result in water safe for human consumption.
“Our goal is to lead the way on developing state regulations,” he said. “Right now, Kansas doesn’t have anything in place. It’s a big lift. It’s a big ask, we recognize that. But from a policy perspective we’re hoping to have that in place soon as we can. It’s not for everybody. It’s expensive. There’s a lot of issues of public outreach. Those regulations need to be in place before any of that happens.”