News Release, Kansas Geological Survey, Feb. 24, 2004
LAWRENCE--Water experts from the across Kansas and the nation will meet in Lawrence early next month to discuss the future of water and the state. The annual "Water and the Future of Kansas" conference is sponsored by several water agencies and hosted this year by the Kansas Geological Survey, based at the University of Kansas.
The theme of this year's meeting, scheduled for March 11 at the Lawrence Holiday Inn, is "Competing Priorities, Resolving Conflicts." The conference is open to the public. The registration fee is $60 if received by February 27 and $75 for registrations received after Feb. 27.
Topics on the program include management of the Ogallala Aquifer of western Kansas, urban-rural water issues, the affect of agriculture on water quality, recreation and public water supplies, and the impact of water use on wildlife habitat.
Nebraska author and folklorist Roger Welsch will be one of the meeting's keynote speakers. Welsch is the author of It's Not the End of the Earth But You Can See It From Here and other books and articles. He is a contributing editor to Successful Farming magazine.
KU professor of history Don Worster is also a featured speaker. Worster will discuss "The Waters of Kansas: Past and Present."
For more information, including registration guidelines, go to http://www.dce.ksu.edu/dce/conf/waterfuture/ or call Kansas State University's Division of Continuing Education at 1-800-432-8222 and ask for Conference Registration.
"Water is among the most important natural resource issues facing Kansas," said Survey water scientist Margaret Townsend, one of the meeting organizers. "This conference brings together the people who determine how Kansas waters are managed, and will be of interest to any Kansan who wants to learn more about water in the state."
The conference is sponsored jointly by the Kansas Water Resources Research Institute, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, K-State Research and Extension, and the Kansas Geological Survey.