By Elaine Giessel, Sierra Club Water Sentinels Leadership Team
During August, National Water Quality Month, it is appropriate to recognize the efforts of the Kansas Chapter and the national Sierra Club to make our water clean and affordable for drinking, for recreation, and for wildlife habitat protection.
In Kansas, up to three-fourths of the water we use is from groundwater supplies known as aquifers; the rest comes from surface waters including streams, reservoirs, and ponds. Most of our water, about 85%, is consumed by agricultural production for crop irrigation and livestock watering. The other 15% goes to municipal and industrial uses.
Declining water quantity is most critical in drier western Kansas, where the Ogallala Aquifer gets frequent media attention and irrigators grapple with the ongoing depletion of groundwater. When groundwater is removed without sufficient recharge, water quality in the aquifer also declines and the loss of base flow causes western headwater streams to dry up.
In eastern Kansas, the issue is water quality, where the rivers and lakes we rely on for primary drinking water sources continue to be contaminated. Cleaning up polluted water is costly, which makes water affordability an equity issue in low-income households. Coliform bacteria and chemical pollutants impact most Kansas streams, along with nutrient loading. Excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus from livestock feedlots (CAFOs), row crop production, slaughterhouses, wastewater treatment systems, and urban landscapes contribute to increased harmful algal blooms. Climate change is making it worse.
The toxins produced by blue-green bacteria/algae threaten public health, wildlife, and access to recreation. The Kansas Chapter has sued the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for the third time over the agency’s failure to protect surface water quality from pollution by industrial hog farms.
The Sierra Club is working on revising its position on the use of reclaimed water from sewage treatment plants for direct potable use. While the technology for cleaning wastewater has greatly improved, the process is costly, creates potentially toxic wastes, and has not been proven to remove all contaminants, some of which EPA has not yet addressed in drinking water standards.
This December marks the 50th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act. New drinking water standards are adopted as the science warrants. EPA recently added 6 “forever chemicals” to drinking water standards, but lawsuits are pending. Depending on the outcome of this November’s election, potential changes in Congress and the White House could threaten all environmental progress.