Testimony of Congressman Jerry Moran

• Description: Briefing Papers H.R. 3881
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 3/19/2002
• Author: Congress of the United States House of Representatives, Jerry Moran
• Title: Testimony of Congressman Jerry Moran
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

° JERRY MORAN 1519 LONGWORTH HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
FIRST DISTRICT WASHINGTON, DC 20515 -1601
[phone]
KANSAS •
E -mail: jerry.moran @mail.house.gov
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VETERANS' AFFAIRS Testimony of Congressman Jerry Moran ' SUITE 525
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CHAIRMAN HUTCHINSON, KS 67504 -1128
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH (620) 665 -6138
U.S. House of Representatives Resources Committee
Subcommittee on Water and Power
March 19, 2002
Hearing on H.R. 3881
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Smith, and other members of the subcommittee, thank
you for allowing me the opportunity today to testify on H.R. 3881. As members of the Water and
Power subcommittee, you have to deal with one of the most difficult resource issues facing the
Western United States: water.
Water disputes have long divided regions, communities, states, and even countries. As
members of this subcommittee you are faced with a constant barrage of requests from water
users. Communities, the environment, agricultural, and other economic interests all utilize this
limited resource. I want to discuss with you today how a particular body of water, the Arkansas
River, characterizes the value of this important resource.
The Arkansas River in Kansas
The Arkansas River enters Kansas at the western border with Colorado, near the small
town of Coolidge, population 88. The River works its way eastward across the state to Arkansas
City, where it continues into Oklahoma. Along the route, the Arkansas passes through the towns
of Garden City, Dodge City, Lamed, Great Bend, and Hutchinson, and provides the only source
of periodic surface water for most southwestern Kansas communities.
Parts of the Arkansas are a dry riverbed now for as many as eight months out of the year.
However, looking at our state map, it is easy to see that in earlier times the River was the
lifeblood for communities that grew out of the otherwise dry prairie. The towns and roads of
southwest Kansas follow the path carved by the Arkansas.
Even today, the Arkansas River is celebrated in our state. The Wichita River Festival is
an annual event each May, organized solely for the purpose of drawing Kansans together to
recreate on and around the only river in the area. In Kansas, the Arkansas River is more than an
important source of water for municipalities; it's an important emotional benefit for people who
otherwise would not see water except that coming from wells, pumped from the High Plains
Aquifer deep underground.
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