Water

Wichita officials are considering water restrictions after two years of drought have Cheney Reservoir levels at 40%. Cheney is the city's main water source. City council is expected to hear options about water issues during a workshop meeting Friday the 26th. Council won't vote during that meeting. If it decides restrictions are necessary council will vote during a regular council meeting. Wichita tried to lower demand for water by charging more for residents using the most water in the summer.

"I see water as a gift," Rita Robl says.  "It's a gift that's been given to us by God. " To overuse, is to abuse that gift according Robl and Joann Stuever.  When they're not busy with their official duties as Catholic nuns, these women are running the Great Plains Earth Institute.  They say Kansas is drying up, and that means we all need to make some changes. "The midwestern part of the United States could be part of a new low rainfall or desert environment," Stuever says.

Wichita city water officials prepare to ask you to use less water.  The Public Works Director told Eyewitness News he will ask the city council next month to consider water restrictions. Water is a precious resource we all need to survive.  And as you can tell by looking at any river or lake, even our lawns, we're not getting enough of it.  After three years of drought conditions Sedgwick County area wells are measuring at their lowest levels on record. "When we didn't get the rains last spring we knew that this was an unusual kind of a weather pattern, that we were continuing on in the kind of drought pattern that we had been seeing," said Alan King, Director of Public Works in Wichita.  "And so we know that we've got to do something.

"It's not to emergency levels yet," said Jeff Lanterman, Water Commissioner for the Stafford Field Office of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. An annual survey of water levels is finding they're not good.  The yearly statewide survey keeps an eye on water resources.  Eyewitness News went to three wells with a crew Monday morning.  Of those, one well was dry, the other two were as much as five feet below normal levels. "Water levels are dropping," confirmed Lanterman.

Winter usually means not having to worry much about your trees, lawns and gardens.  But the prolonged drought means taking a more active role now, to make sure your plants bounce back in the spring. If can be difficult to tell if dormant trees and grass are stressed and not getting enough water.  Eric Denneler with Tree Top Nursery says that means paying attention to the weather and watering.  "Probably the biggest thing to consider is how recently was your plant planted.

The water levels in the Arkansas River are extremely low. "Right now the flow is at 10 percent of the normal flow," city engineer Gary Janzen said. They are so low that the Delano District has had to change its Christmas celebration. "They were going to have boats in the river called a flotilla, but unfortunately we haven't had very much rain this year.," Delano business owner Nancy Lawrence said. So parade organizers in the Delano District changed their plans.

“I think the lack of rain over the past 2 years has just diminished the ground water and it's just not what it used to be,” said Kingman County resident Brian Rice. Doing daily tasks like showering and laundry becomes difficult for some Kingman County residents, and the continuing drought is to blame. Two years of too little rain has some wells running dry. “The tree out here lost most of it's leaves,” said Rice. For two years, Rice has watched the drought destroy his lawn.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 65% of Kansans receive fluoridated water. For some communities, fluoride naturally occurs at levels that can prevent cavities. Those communities include Goodland, Colby and Dodge City. But that's not the case for everyone. So, for years, places like hays, Salina and Topeka have added fluoride to city water supplies. The Centers for Disease Control lists fluoride levels for every water system in the country. You'll find that list using the link below.

Several compounds can be added to water to fluoridate it. We spoke with Wichita State University chemist David Eichhorn. He says, despite what these compounds start out as, once they are mixed with water - you end up with fluoride. He says groups like the CDC have determined safe levels, but, like anything, you don't want too much. "Any chemical is going to be toxic at a high enough concentration," Eichhorn told us, "A good example is sodium we think we need to stay away from sodium is in fact important to have in our body just not at too high of concentration.

It's a question many viewers have shared with us. How does the process of adding fluoride to water work? We traveled to Topeka, which treats 30 million gallons of water a day. The capital has fluoridated its water for decades. "Is there a lot of controversy around it here in Topeka?" said Bruce Northrop who runs the Topeka Water Plant. "In the 40 years I've been doing it, there has been very little controversy about adding fluoride to the drinking water. " Topeka dentist Dr. Amy Thompson says the same thing.