Regional Goal Leadership Teams to hear water supply priorities
During the month of March, 26 public meetings will be hosted by the Water Vision Regional Goal Leadership Teams to begin the goal setting process to help develop water supply goals for each region. Each of the 14 teams are to participate in a public scoping process in their region to develop and draft water supply goals based on public input and available resource condition information.
Stakeholders input will be helpful to each team to identify the region’s water supply priorities. Water supply priorities and goals should seek to implement the following Vision statement:
Kansans act on a shared commitment to have the water resources necessary to support the state’s social, economic and natural resource needs for current and future generations.
The most resounding message Kansas citizens shared with the Water Vision Team last year during the vision tour was the need for regional water supply goals, instead of statewide water supply goals. At the upcoming meetings the public will be asked to share their input on specific topics that are water supply issues for their region. Trained facilitators from Kansas State University Research and Extension as well as the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy will be helping with the goal development and facilitate the public meetings. All regional stakeholders and citizens are encouraged to attend one of the input sessions.
Monday, March 2
- Marais des Cygnes
Fort Scott, KS – 7 p.m., Buck Run Community Center, 735 Scott Avenue
Tuesday, March 3
- Equus-Walnut
Winfield, KS – 7 p.m., Southwestern College Campus, Wroten Hall, 100 College Street
- Marais des Cygnes
Paola, KS – 7 p.m., Paola Fire Department Training Room 200 E. Wea Street
- Smoky Hill-Saline
Wakeeney, KS – 1p.m., Western Electric Building, 635 South 13th Street
Salina, KS – 7 p.m., Salina Public Library, Prescott room, 301 West Elm Street
Wednesday, March 4
- Upper Smoky Hill
Scott City, KS – 1p.m., William Carpenter 4-H Building, 608 Fairground Road, SE Room
Tribune, KS 6 p.m. (MT), Greeley County 4-H Building, 905 Ingalls
Thursday, March 5
- Marais des Cygnes
Ottawa, KS – 7 p.m., Neosho County Community College, Ottawa Campus 900 E. Logan Street
Monday, March 9
- Equus-Walnut
Hutchinson, KS – 7 p.m., Justice Theater, Shears Technology Center, Hutchinson Community College, Plum & 14th Street
- Kansas
DeSoto, KS – 7 p.m., DeSoto Senior Center, 32905 W. 8th Street
- Neosho
Erie, KS – 7 p.m., Neosho County Courthouse, 100 S. Main Street
Tuesday, March 10
- Great Bend Prairie
Larned, KS – 7 p.m., J A Haas Building, 400 E. 18th Street
- Upper Republican
Goodland, KS – 9 a.m., Fire EMS Building, 1004 Center Avenue
Colby, KS – 7 p.m., Community Building, 285 E 5th Street
- Verdigris
Independence, KS – 3 p.m., Memorial Hall, 410 N. Penn Avenue
Wednesday, March 11
- Kansas
Manhattan, KS – 7p.m., Fire Department Headquarters, 2000 Denison Avenue
- Neosho
Emporia, KS – 7 p.m., Flint Hill Technical College, Main Building, Conference Room, 3301 W. 18th Avenue
Thursday, March 12
- Cimarron
Liberal, KS – 1:30 p.m., Seward Co. Community College/Area Technical School, 1801 N Kansas
- Missouri
Leavenworth, KS – 2 p.m., Heritage Center, 109 Delaware
Hiawatha, KS – 7 p.m., Hiawatha Middle School, 307 South Morrill Avenue
- Upper Arkansas
Garden City, KS – 6 p.m., Finney County Fairgrounds, 209 Lake Avenue
Tuesday, March 24
- Equus-Walnut
Wichita, KS – 7 p.m., City Council Chambers, 455 N. Main
Thursday, March 26
- Solomon-Republican
Phillipsburg, KS – 7 p.m., 4-H Building, 1481 Hwy 183
Monday, March 30
- Red Hills
Medicine Lodge –7 p.m., Jr./Sr. High School Gym, 400 W El Dorado Ave
Tuesday, March 31
- Equus-Walnut
El Dorado, KS – 7 p.m., Civic Center, 201 E. Central
- Solomon-Republican
Beloit, KS – 7 p.m., Beloit Technical College, Conference Room, 3033 US Hwy 24
The teams will present the proposed draft regional water supply goals to the Kansas Water Authority (KWA) in May 2015. The KWA will provide advice towards further development of the regional goals with final goals to be approved in August 2015.
For more information on the upcoming public meetings, water supply information about each region or read the final version of the Long-Term Vision for the Future of Water Supply in Kansas, visit www.kwo.org.
