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Page 1 of 2 <br />return original_pagc <br />TU <br />x HE HUTCHINSON <br />online edifion <br />Kansas Water Authority meetings to discuss <br />future state water projects <br />By Sarah Kessinggr - Harris News Service <br />TOPEKA - Saying that the state needs progress rather than more rhetoric on water planning, Kansas <br />Water Authori v cLhairman Steve Irsik and other state leaders have a set of ideas to manage the state's <br />water supply they are sending to local basin committees this summer. <br />"Consider this an all -out effort to make a difference," said Irsik, an Ingalls agribusinessman. <br />"Today's Kansans owe it to future generations to take action now." <br />The set of proposals to preserve water would begin next summer if they gain approval from the <br />regional Basin Advisory Committees and state officials. <br />"A lot of planning has been going on for the last several months," said Tracy Streeter, acting director <br />of the Kansas Water Office, which serves as the authority's research and planning arm. <br />Streeter will attend most of the meetings, held July 16 through Aug. 3 and involving 12 advisory <br />committees made up of 130 volunteers from each of the local river basins. <br />"There's a lot more on the agenda than what normally has been in the past," Streeter said. <br />Projects in the draft proposal include <br />to farmers to change from irrigati—oni <br />of areas Known as <br />of the declining O allala A er <br />are <br />protection <br />Amain concernis watersheds above federal reservoirs. Sediment and pollution from farms, cities, <br />industry and other sources are accumulating through run -off into rivers and streams that feed into <br />reservoirs. <br />Another proposal is how to fund fu ure� ansas w te�_s_unrlies. The water authority would like to <br />launch a savings program to invest funds that would later help bud additional water ies for <br />public use. <br />"We need to address this now so we don't leave that to the next generation to address," said Streeter. <br />Past efforts to launch such proposals have been crippled in recent years by a state budget crisis in <br />which lawmakers and the governor c 2 million ftom the State Water Plan Fund. <br />http: / /www.dailynews. net/ hutchinsor /cgi- bir/printerpage.pl 8/23/2004 <br />