Kansas Projects Tackle Pesticide, Sediment in Cooperative Effort With Farmers

Cities looking to address water-quality challenges in watersheds leading into their drinking water supply may want to see how Wichita, Kansas, works with upstream farmers to reduce pesticide and sediment in the Little Arkansas River watershed. Litigation over water quality, especially the federal case in Des Moines, Iowa, in recent years, has drawn a lot of attention. Meanwhile, some other more cooperative water-quality efforts have received less attention.Wichita, with the help of Kansas State University Extension, uses a couple of payment and trading programs to help reduce atrazine and sediment issues in the Little Arkansas River watershed. The Little Arkansas River, which flows into the main Arkansas River in Wichita, is an intensely farmed watershed just north of the city with roughly 75% to 80% of the ground typically farmed.