CLA Board Members Meet with Key Corps Personnel at Canton Lake Project Office.

In a meeting held Friday, April the 8th, 2016 some members of the CLA Board met with Don Underwood the new Natural Resources Manager and other support personnel with the Corps of Engineers at Canton Lake to discuss several topics. 

Mr. Underwood has taken over the duties formerly held by Kathy Carlson as the project manager at Canton Lake. He has been active in the Corps for over 33 years and recently came to Canton from Ft. Supply Lake where he was the manager for several years.

Those in attendance at the meeting were Lake Manager Mr. Underwood, Assistant Lake Manager George Mayfield and Civil Engineer Tech Debbie Chaloupek as well as CLA board members Tom Adams, Troy Everett and Mark Fuqua.

It was a very positive atmosphere and many topics were discussed. To mention just a few, plans for the completion of the camping area below the bridge, purposed improvements to the road entering and exiting that area where it brings you back up onto the dam, the completion of the trailer park that was wiped out of the Canadian area during the tornado and general concessions on the lake. Those topics and many more fueled discussions for over an hour. The CLA let it be known that we are willing to help raise funds for important projects and that we are happy to try and coordinate volunteer manpower when needed for projects around the lake as we have done in the past.

Perhaps one of the best things to come out of the meeting was simply the introduction between the CLA and the new lake management, and the expression between both parties to work together to make Canton Lake the best it can be for all of those who enjoy it. 

It was very encouraging to find out the Mr. Underwood carries a deep desire to make this the people's lake as much as possible. He was very helpful and informative as were all lake personnel and all showed a sincere willingness to receive input from organizations such as the CLA in what we and our members think are important for lake goers.

We are very excited at the opportunities that lay ahead.

Fox News story on Canton Lake.

Link to Fox News story on Canton Lake and the suffering community.


http://www.okcfox.com/story/25479829/low-lake-levels-devastating-northwest-oklahoma-town

The Fight Goes On To Bring the Concerns of the Canton Lake Community to the Powers That Be.

In a long and contentious meeting held 3/24/2014, at the Canton Lake Project Office. 

 CLA board members, Jeff Converse, Curtis Hoskins, Lou Ann Wooley, Mark Fuqua, Alan Cox, Troy Everett, Rupert Nowlin, Tom Adams, and Kermit Raab met with representative from Corps of Engineers, including Col Richard Pratt and Project Manager Kathy Carlson and others from Canton and Tulsa, Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust, Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Rep. Frank Lucas’ office, Sen Jim Inhofe’s office, Canton Times to discuss project updates and drought management.

The CLA Continues To Be Active In Fighting For Canton Lake.

The CLA Board of Directors continues to work to change laws and policies that have plunged the Canton Lake Community into the abyss. Although you have not heard much from us publicly, the CLA has been working diligently in the background to represent Canton Lake and its user’s interests. We are having board meetings and discussing future goals and plans to further the organization and to make it’s member’s voices heard.  This forum serves as an update of our activity.

We were very excited to welcome Kermit Raab to our board a few months ago. Kermit works for American Farmers and Ranchers Insurance which is a tremendous organization that has a very large rural voice at our State Capitol. Kermit is also the nephew of Frank Raab, a Canton resident and Oklahoma water pioneer who worked tirelessly to see Canton Lake become a reality many years ago.

We had made plans to attend and have a booth at the Sportsman’s Classic show in Enid to promote the CLA and tell the Canton Lake story to interested sportsmen and women in our area and try and garner support for our cause. Due to lack of overall participation from vendors that show has been postponed.

We have been, and are continuing to be involved in statewide water meetings.  CLA President, Jeff Converse, was an invited presenter at the Out-of-Basin Water Transfers Roundtable at the Governor’s Water Conference in October.  He made the case that water transfers between lakes (e.g. Canton Lake to Lakes Hefner and Overholser) should no longer be allowed anywhere in the state because of the inequities and inefficiencies involved in those transfers.  

Several board members have been regulars at quarterly meetings hosted by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board dealing with issues such as “Water for 2060” ( the statewide water plan/goal of using no more water in the year 2060 than we do today) and “Instream Flows” which is a program to help reestablish and maintain reliable flows in streams and rivers around the state.  

The importance of being involved in the “water business” on the statewide level cannot be overemphasized.  The key to solving the long term problems faced by the Canton Lake Community is in the trickle down effect of policies set and/or laws made on the state or even federal level.  This process is very slow but we must continue and maintain the effort.   

Many exciting things are happening with grassroots water groups from around the state.  We are being invited to form alliances and be a part of various organizations who are also fighting for water rights throughout our state. Besides our alliance with Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy (ORWP), we have also been contacted by Save Lake Texoma. Many small lake associations like the CLA are beginning to pop up all over the state.  

The longer term goal is to attempt to merge the small associations into one larger group, perhaps under the umbrella of ORWP.  The key is that we need numbers to have a stronger voice to effect change in lawmaking and water policy.  Alliance with other groups will make us stronger.  

The northwest region of the state is taking a major step towards management and use of its’ fresh waters by developing a Northwest Region Water Plan which is a subset of the larger statewide “Water for 2060” goal outlined in the statewide 2012 Water Plan.

We have been invited to participate and have a voice in the North West Water Action Team, an organization made up of policymakers and groups from all over northwest Oklahoma, whose goal is to develop Northwest Water Action Plan.  The end result of this collaboration will be a document or “plan” that will define how, when, where and why water is used throughout northwest Oklahoma through the year 2060.   

We are pleased to be meeting with the new leader of the Tulsa District of the Corps of Engineers, Colonel Richard Pratt.  Col. Pratt replaced former leader Colonel Michael Teague last summer and is now overseeing the district that is responsible for Canton Lake. Col. Pratt will be coming to Canton in March to speak at the Chamber of Commerce Banquet and has requested a meeting with the CLA Board of Directors to do a sightseeing tour at the lake.  This will be a great opportunity for the CLA Board to express its concerns to Col. Pratt while standing beside a dry Canton Lake.  One of the challenges with establishing a long term relationship with the Colonels, is they only serve a 3 year term in that position then they move on and are replaced. While each Col. is in the position of overseeing Canton Lake, we will work to have a positive working relationship with them and make sure they are well aware of the concerns of the CLA members.

One thing is becoming abundantly clear, water is becoming a dominant issue in our state and it is shaping up to be a rural vs metro battle. We must unite with the many rural water rights groups that share our common vision for rural water protected from metro control.  Unification with the numerous small and large water rights organizations may be the only hope we have to have to produce a large enough voice to be heard by the powers that be.  This is a long term fight that requires extreme patience. We knew this was going to be a long term battle when we took it on and we are prepared to stay the course.  You can rest assured that although everything the CLA does in not in public, we continue the fight for the well-being of the Canton Lake Community each and every day and have no intentions of letting up anytime soon.     

It's also worth mentioning the boat ramp at Big Bend was extended thanks to efforts and funding from the CLA, generous businesses and the Canton Corp of Engineers employees. So that's two boat ramps that have had extensions added due thanks in part to the CLA. One in the Canadian area and the other in Big Bend. We have also continued to work with the Wildlife  Fisheries Dept. and placed more safe, man made plastic structures for fish habitat in the lake. This should help improve angler's experiences once the lake refills. We can't do anything about the lake level at this point, but we can work to make the lake better for when we get more water.

 CLA Board Members work in conjunction with local Corp of Engineers employees to extend a boat ramp in Big Bend.

CLA members working with volunteers and the OK Dept of Wildlife Fisheries Dept to install man made fish habitat. This was the second round of fish habitat installed by the CLA.

CLA Board Members met with the Newly Elected Governor of the C & A Tribes

On January 24th, 2014 some members of the CLA Board of Directors made the trip to Concho to meet with the newly elected Governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Mr. Eddie Hamilton.  One of the main items discussed was the mutual concern for the Tribe’s water rights in Canton Lake, and how an alliance between the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribe and the CLA could prove beneficial to everyone with an interest in seeing Canton Lake maintain healthy water levels.

The meeting was also attended by other delegates from the tribe, and all in attendance showed a sincere concern for the unclaimed water rights that the Tribe has to the water residing in Canton Lake. The CLA members shared some of their past and continued efforts, and the vision they have for working toward specific goals in maintaining a certain healthy level of water in the lake. They also discussed the Tribe's potential role in helping attain that goal through the use of claiming their water rights which seem to have been unrecognized by OKC and the Corp of Engineers when they entered into the contract for Canton Lake Water.

The C & A Tribe owns land adjoining the lake yet had no seat at the table in the negotiations and no voice previously in the development of the current contract between the Corp and OKC. We feel this is a terrible oversight on the part of the parties involved and hope to have the contract revisited to consider the water rights of the C & A people.

The Native Americans hold water sacred and use it in many of their tribal ceremonies. It has always been held as one of the greatest natural resources in their culture.

The CLA looks forward to furthering this relationship with the C & A Tribe and in joining with them to fight for the water in Canton Lake. We will keep you updated on further conversations between the two groups.

Please see the attached photo below.

Photo taken in the Conference room at the C & A Tribe Headquarters of a mural on the wall depicting a religious ceremony with a pail of water on the right showing how sacred water is to the Native American people. It is a major part in most all of their ceremonies.

Link to article about Lake Texoma Experiencing Negative Impacts of the Long Term Drought.

http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/Media/NewsReleases/tabid/4954/Article/21091/lake-texoma-experiencing-negative-impacts-of-long-term-drought.aspx

Journal-Record Scott Carter Article with Members of the Oklahoman's for Responsible Water Policy

Published on September 19th, 2013
Written by: M. Scott Carter

FORT WORTH, Texas – In Fort Worth, Texas, municipal water rates are expected to rise by about 5 percent in 2014. In addition, sewer rates are expected to increase by about 4 percent next year.

The reason: higher raw water rates from the Tarrant Regional Water District and a softer demand for water.

Just about two months after the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 9-0 against the Tarrant Regional Water District’s efforts to take water from inside Oklahoma’s borders, published reports show that water demand in at least one major city served by the district has been declining, and the city’s population growth estimates were wrong.

Although the information comes after Tarrant’s efforts to take Oklahoma water were unsuccessful, Texas water officials have long touted the need for new water supplies, saying the state’s population growth would outpace its existing water supplies.

In fact, in its brief filed with the Supreme Court, the TRWD stressed the need for water in the Lone Star State, in part, by arguing that the state’s population and water consumption were growing dramatically.

“Water use in the region has increased in recent years, primarily in response to increasing population and municipal use,” the TRWD claimed  in the brief.

However, according to one Texas newspaper, the demand for water has been flat or down in at least one major city served by the TRWD.

The same goes for sewer rates.

“We got a little overoptimistic on our growth estimates and they didn’t materialize,” Fort Worth Water Director Frank Crumb said to the Star-Telegram newspaper. “So we’re trying to get that back in line and correct it.”

Telephone calls to Crumb were not returned. But Crumb told the Texas newspaper that increased conservation efforts, more water-efficient appliances and new construction codes had caused water usage in Fort Worth to remain the same or decrease.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Scott Nishimura said Crumb made similar statements in 2012.

“The trend toward water conservation is ongoing,” Nishimura said in an interview with The Journal Record.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price told the newspaper that the city’s growth continues, but she, too, agreed that water usage had declined.

“While we’re driving down usage, the growth in the city is going up,” Price said.

That information has the executive director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board scratching his head.

“They may have overshot their demand projections,” said J.D. Strong. “We knew they were getting more efficient.”

Had the state known that Fort Worth’s demand for raw water had declined, Strong said, that information would have been included in its arguments against Tarrant Regional’s lawsuit.

“If we had known that at the time, we would have rolled it into our litigation,” Strong said.

State Sen. Jerry Ellis, D-Valliant, agreed. Ellis, whose district lies in southeastern Oklahoma, said the idea that there were thousands of thirsty Texans needing water was a long-held myth.

“There’s never been any thirsty Texans,” Ellis said. “They would come to me and they would beg, then they’d threaten and then say that we must either sell them water or they’d come and take us to court and get it for free.”

Texas’ water problem, Ellis said, is that too many residents water the sidewalk.

“They want us to be a bunch of dumb Okies and give them our water for pennies on the dollar,” Ellis said. “But they don’t use their water wisely.”

At least one report supports Ellis’ claim. According to a 2011 study from the Texas Water Development Board, about 31 percent of the state’s single-family residential annual water consumption is dedicated for outdoor purposes.

The study found that the average single-family household used 361 gallons per day. Of that figure, study authors said, about 190 gallons per household or 53 percent of single-family water use went for outdoor use, while 171 gallons per household per day – 47 percent – was for indoor use.

“Average annual indoor use per household was 62,000 gallons while outdoor use was 70,000 gallons,” study authors wrote.

Still, for Tarrant Regional, obtaining water from Oklahoma was an important, if not critical, component of securing an adequate supply of water for a growing area served by water utility. However, even while it pushed its efforts in court – and in the Oklahoma Legislature – to secure Sooner State water, Tarrant also had other plans for locking down other water sources.

Right now the water district is spending $2.3 billion to build a 90-mile pipeline from eastern Texas to Tarrant County as part of its Integrated Pipeline Project.

Developed in the 1980s, the project partners the TRWD with the city of Dallas to pipe water from several east Texas reservoirs to Tarrant. The first phase, which would connect Tarrant with Cedar Creek Lake, is expected to be completed in 2021.

“It’s like the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,” said Charlette Hearne, president of the group Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy. “Why would they spend millions of dollars to fight us in a federal lawsuit and have all these lobbyists at the Capitol when their usage is declining? It’s very surprising.

Horizon TV does a story on Canton Lake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niK6ssiwCkw

New Col. takes over the Tulsa District of the Corps of Engineers which controls Canton Lake.

TULSA – Col. Richard A. Pratt has taken command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District.

Pratt succeeds Col. Michael J. Teague, who was commander for three years. Teague retired from his 28-year Army career after the change of command.

Pratt comes to the Tulsa District from the Navy War College in Newport, R.I. A native of Cape Cod, Mass., Pratt earned his commission from Norwich University, The Military College of Vermont, in 1990.

Most recently, Pratt served as the engineer organizational integrator in the Force Management Directorate of the deputy chief of staff.

Pratt earned a master of science degree in education from Long Island University in 1998.

OKC Mayor Mick Cornett interview with Horizon TV talking water usage and other water related topics.

OKC Mayor Mick Cornett speaks about water usage with Horizon TV's Andy Barth. You can hear the urban entitlement in his words. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7B07ZPzZUo&sns=em

Volunteers needed to help install man-made fish habitat in Canton Lake. Saturday, June 29th at 7:00 am.

Volunteers needed!! Many have asked what you could do to help and here is your chance... Another man-made fish habitat project at Canton Lake will be June 29th at 7am. The CLA in conjunction with the Dept of Wildlife Fisheries Division will be installing more habitat like what is in the picture. We could use all the able bodied volunteers available. More details to follow as far as where to meet. Any interested parties should contact CLA President Jeff Converse via email at lawnmowershopww@gmail.com. Please consider helping make our lake a better fishing lake by marking your calender and donating a few hours of time and effort. With plenty of help it shouldn't last more than a couple of hours. Your help is needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Canton Lake Association, Corp of Engineers employees and some Woodward OK Businesses work together to extend another boat ramp at Canton Lake.

CANTON LAKE: Extending the boat ramp at Big Bend in “B” area is a project the Corp of Engineers, Canton Lake Association, and two Woodward businesses (Woodward Steel and Woodward Lumber / Ace Hardware) all came together with materials and labor to make the extension possible. As a result of this concerted effort the boat ramp will be usable sooner when lake levels rise. A cement dovetail which will drop off of the end of the ramp will be poured after the concrete cures and forms are removed.  Jeff Converse, President of Canton Lake Association on far right and (3) Woodward Steel employees loading donated rebar. Thanks to Jaron Miller at Woodard Steel for rebar steel donation.  Loading donated forming lumber at Woodward Lumber / Ace. Thanks to Joel Johnson, Mgr. of Woodward Lumber / Ace Hardware for the donation.  Corp. of Engineers employees and Canton Lake Association members pouring extension to boat ramp at Big Bend “B” area on Monday Grooving cement for drainage and traction.  June 18, 2013

June 18, 2013

Associated Press Article on Canton Lake Situation.

Once-flagging OKC water supply boosted by storms; lake drained to help metro now hurting

By TIM TALLEY  Associated Press June 14, 2013 - 1:31 pm EDT

AAA

OKLAHOMA CITY — The ongoing drought prompted Oklahoma City officials in January to begin diverting billions of gallons of water from Canton Lake to Lake Hefner, replenishing the drinking water supply for about 1.2 million people in the metro area.

Five months later, heavy rainfall that accompanied severe storms and tornadoes that pummeled the state in May have filled Lake Hefner to the brim, forcing officials to drain water from the lake to prevent it from overflowing. Meanwhile, about 100 miles northwest, Canton Lake remains 13 feet below its normal level, and officials who oversee its condition are concerned it may never recover.
"I think the lake is dying," said Jeff Converse, president of the Canton Lake Association. "The low water level is one thing, but now we've got an algae bloom going on. It's pea-green soup."
Converse said he saw dead fish last weekend and believes conditions in the lake will only get worse as the summer heats up.
Residents and merchants say they believe Oklahoma City acted hastily to drain Canton Lake — one of six water reservoirs it controls — of 30,000 acre-feet, or almost 9.8 billion gallons, of water before spring rains brought up Lake Hefner's low levels. An acre foot of water is an acre of surface area with a depth of one foot.
"If they would have waited we would all be in better shape," said Alan Cox, a member of the board of Canton Lake Association who operates a restaurant near the lake. "I think it wasn't a very smart decision on their part. I don't know why a month or two wouldn't have helped."
A spokeswoman for the city's water utility, Debbie Ragan, said officials decided to tap into Canton Lake based on forecasts that indicated serious consequences without additional water sources.
"Wish we had a crystal ball at the time? Yes," Ragan said. "We did what we thought was best at the time for our customers. We can't predict the weather. We can't predict the future. We can take some steps to be better prepared."
Greg Estep, chief of hydrology and hydraulics for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Tulsa District, said the Corps has voiced concern about what impact draining water from Canton Lake might have.
"We still have some concerns out there," Estep said. "They had to do what seemed best for their citizens."
Water released from Canton Lake flowed along the North Canadian River and was diverted into Lake Hefner, which received more than 20,000 acre-feet of water. The balance was soaked up by the riverbed.
Because of the heavy rainfall last month, Ragan said more than 23,000 acre-feet of water was released from Lake Hefner early this month into Lake Overholser and ultimately back into the North Canadian River.
"Those two lakes couldn't hold the water. They're full," she said.
Estep said the prospects for Canton Lake being replenished by rainfall are not good. The region normally gets about 20 inches of rain a year, but recent rainfall adds up to only about 12 inches a year.
"We need some rain," he said. "We need it to come down hard enough that it exceeds the amount that is soaking in."
Cox and other area merchants said the low level of Canton Lake is keeping away anglers, campers and others who use it for recreation.
"It's been pretty tough on all of us," Cox said. "We're about out of our rainy season. Who knows what the weather is going to bring. But it's not looking good."
Donnie Jenkins, who operates Canton Motel, said only six of the motel's 20 rooms were occupied for last month's Canton Lake Walleye Rodeo — the state's oldest and traditionally largest fishing tournament. Ordinarily, Jenkins said, the motel would be full.
"We had one guy who stayed that was a fisherman this weekend," Jenkins said Monday. "We're down 90 percent on weekends."
Jenkins said low lake levels are decimating the lake's fish population.
"We've lost lots and lots and lots of walleye," he said. "It might kill all the fish. It's a sad, sad deal."
Carol Gilchrist, operator of This and That gift shop, says the lake is also vital to the area's economic health.
"This town depends on the lake to get us through the winter," she said. "We have lost so many of the campers due to the lake situation. We're going to have to tighten our belts."

Supreme Court ruling on Texas taking Oklahoma water.

Reservoirs like this one in Robert Lee, Texas, are subject to severe drought, risking water supplies -- but the Supreme Court ruled that invading neighboring states isn't the answer.

This is a victory for Canton lake as well as the entire state as this will leave more water in Southern Oklahoma lakes for OKC. which can help lessen the burden on our lake. 

by Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- With water, water virtually everywhere, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that thirsty Texas counties can't run a pipeline into Oklahoma for more drops to drink.

The decision, which upholds two lower court rulings, is a victory for states' rights over multistate water compacts that are common throughout the West. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.

On one side of the dispute was Texas, accused of trying to divert water from Oklahoma under terms of a four-state compact that entitled each state to up to 25% of the water from a segment of the Red River. On the other was Oklahoma, asserting that Texas can get the water from within its borders or elsewhere.

The battle was being watched closely by other states with interstate compacts similar to the one the two states share with Arkansas and Louisiana. There are more than two dozen compacts nationwide, mostly in the West, and at least nine with similar provisions.

The battle is critical for nearly 2 million residents of the Dallas-Fort Worth area who get water from the Tarrant Regional Water District. The fast-growing area needs far more water than it has; it warns that if it goes dry, other areas reliant on such compacts could as well.

Under the 35-year-old compact, each of the four states is entitled to no more than 25% of the water. The dispute was over where they could go to get it. Because the main stem of the river is salty, tributaries such as the one in Oklahoma that enticed Texas are considered preferable.

The Lone Star State had lost in both lower federal courts, which ruled that Oklahoma can bar such water invasions. Texas contended that the four-state compact, approved by Congress, should trump state laws, and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed.

During oral argument in April, Lisa Blatt, the attorney representing Oklahoma, said Texas' claim was unprecedented. If granted, she said it would produce "open season for Oklahoma water" and lead to a situation in which "every state could have crisscrossing pipelines into every state."

Follow @richardjwolf on Twitter.

Copyright 2013 USATODAY.com

NY Times talks real talk about depleting ground water aquifers in Kansas and other regions.... sure to spread. Farmers feel the effects from lack of water for irrigation.

posted last night on NY TImes

Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust

By MICHAEL WINES

HASKELL COUNTY, Kan. — Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland. He struck an artery of water so prodigious that he could pump 1,600 gallons to the surface every minute.

Last year, Mr. Yost was coaxing just 300 gallons from the earth, and pumping up sand in order to do it. By harvest time, the grit had robbed him of $20,000 worth of pumps and any hope of returning to the bumper harvests of years past.

“That’s prime land,” he said not long ago, gesturing from his pickup at the stubby remains of last year’s crop. “I’ve raised 294 bushels of corn an acre there before, with water and the Lord’s help.” Now, he said, “it’s over.”

The land, known as Section 35, sits atop the High Plains Aquifer, a waterlogged jumble of sand, clay and gravel that begins beneath Wyoming and South Dakota and stretches clear to the Texas Panhandle. The aquifer’s northern reaches still hold enough water in many places to last hundreds of years. But as one heads south, it is increasingly tapped out, drained by ever more intensive farming and, lately, by drought.

Vast stretches of Texas farmland lying over the aquifer no longer support irrigation. In west-central Kansas, up to a fifth of the irrigated farmland along a 100-mile swath of the aquifer has already gone dry. In many other places, there no longer is enough water to supply farmers’ peak needs during Kansas’ scorching summers.

And when the groundwater runs out, it is gone for good. Refilling the aquifer would require hundreds, if not thousands, of years of rains.

This is in many ways a slow-motion crisis — decades in the making, imminent for some, years or decades away for others, hitting one farm but leaving an adjacent one untouched. But across the rolling plains and tarmac-flat farmland near the Kansas-Colorado border, the effects of depletion are evident everywhere. Highway bridges span arid stream beds. Most of the creeks and rivers that once veined the land have dried up as 60 years of pumping have pulled groundwater levels down by scores and even hundreds of feet.

On some farms, big center-pivot irrigators — the spindly rigs that create the emerald circles of cropland familiar to anyone flying over the region — now are watering only a half-circle. On others, they sit idle altogether.

Two years of extreme drought, during which farmers relied almost completely on groundwater, have brought the seriousness of the problem home. In 2011 and 2012, the Kansas Geological Survey reports, the average water level in the state’s portion of the aquifer dropped 4.25 feet — nearly a third of the total decline since 1996.

And that is merely the average. “I know my staff went out and re-measured a couple of wells because they couldn’t believe it,” said Lane Letourneau, a manager at the State Agriculture Department’s water resources division. “There was a 30-foot decline.”

Kansas agriculture will survive the slow draining of the aquifer — even now, less than a fifth of the state’s farmland is irrigated in any given year — but the economic impact nevertheless will be outsized. In the last federal agriculture census of Kansas, in 2007, an average acre of irrigated land produced nearly twice as many bushels of corn, two-thirds more soybeans and three-fifths more wheat than did dry land.

Farmers will take a hit as well. Raising crops without irrigation is far cheaper, but yields are far lower. Drought is a constant threat: the last two dry-land harvests were all but wiped out by poor rains.

In the end, most farmers will adapt to farming without water, said Bill Golden, an agriculture economist at Kansas State University. “The revenue losses are there,” he said. “But they’re not as tremendously significant as one might think.”

Some already are. A few miles west of Mr. Yost’s farm, Nathan Kells cut back on irrigation when his wells began faltering in the last decade, and shifted his focus to raising dairy heifers — 9,000 on that farm, and thousands more elsewhere. At about 12 gallons a day for a single cow, Mr. Kells can sustain his herd with less water than it takes to grow a single circle of corn.

“The water’s going to flow to where it’s most valuable, whether it be industry or cities or feed yards,” he said. “We said, ‘What’s the higher use of the water?’ and decided that it was the heifer operation.”

The problem, others say, is that when irrigation ends, so do the jobs and added income that sustain rural communities.

“Looking at areas of Texas where the groundwater has really dropped, those towns are just a shell of what they once were,” said Jim Butler, a hydrogeologist and senior scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey.

The villain in this story is in fact the farmers’ savior: the center-pivot irrigator, a quarter- or half-mile of pipe that traces a watery circle around a point in the middle of a field. The center pivots helped start a revolution that raised farming from hardscrabble work to a profitable business.

Since the pivots’ debut some six decades ago, the amount of irrigated cropland in Kansas has grown to nearly three million acres, from a mere 250,000 in 1950. But the pivot irrigators’ thirst for water — hundreds and sometimes thousands of gallons a minute — has sent much of the aquifer on a relentless decline. And while the big pivots have become much more efficient, a University of California study earlier this year concluded that Kansas farmers were using some of their water savings to expand irrigation or grow thirstier crops, not to reduce consumption.

A shift to growing corn, a much thirstier crop than most, has only worsened matters. Driven by demand, speculation and a government mandate to produce biofuels, the price of corn has tripled since 2002, and Kansas farmers have responded by increasing the acreage of irrigated cornfields by nearly a fifth.

At an average 14 inches per acre in a growing season, a corn crop soaks up groundwater like a sponge — in 2010, the State Agriculture Department said, enough to fill a space a mile square and nearly 2,100 feet high.

Sorghum, or milo, gets by on a third less water, Kansas State University researchers say — and it, too, is in demand by biofuel makers. As Kansas’ wells peter out, more farmers are switching to growing milo on dry land or with a comparative sprinkle of irrigation water.

But as long as there is enough water, most farmers will favor corn. “The issue that often drives this is economics,” said David W. Hyndman, who heads Michigan State University’s geological sciences department. “And as long as you’ve got corn that’s $7, then a lot of choices get made on that.”

Of the 800 acres that Ashley Yost farmed last year in Haskell County, about 70 percent was planted in corn, including roughly 125 acres in Section 35. Haskell County’s feedlots — the county is home to 415,000 head of cattle — and ethanol plants in nearby Liberal and Garden City have driven up the price of corn handsomely, he said.

But this year he will grow milo in that section, and hope that by ratcheting down the speed of his pump, he will draw less sand, even if that means less water, too. The economics of irrigation, he said, almost dictate it.

“You’ve got $20,000 of underground pipe,” he said. “You’ve got a $10,000 gas line. You’ve got a $10,000 irrigation motor. You’ve got an $89,000 pivot. And you’re going to let it sit there and rot?

“If you can pump 150 gallons, that’s 150 gallons Mother Nature is not giving us. And if you can keep a milo crop alive, you’re going to do it.”

Mr. Yost’s neighbors have met the prospect of dwindling water in starkly different ways. A brother is farming on pivot half-circles. A brother-in-law moved most of his operations to Iowa. Another farmer is suing his neighbors, accusing them of poaching water from his slice of the aquifer.

A fourth grows corn with an underground irrigation system that does not match the yields of water-wasting center-pivot rigs, but is far thriftier in terms of water use and operating costs.

For his part, Mr. Yost continues to pump. But he also allowed that the day may come when sustaining what is left of the aquifer is preferable to pumping as much as possible.

Sitting in his Ford pickup next to Section 35, he unfolded a sheet of white paper that tracked the decline of his grandfather’s well: from 1,600 gallons a minute in 1964, to 1,200 in 1975, to 750 in 1976.

When the well slumped to 500 gallons in 1991, the Yosts capped it and drilled another nearby. Its output sank, too, from 1,352 gallons to 300 today.

This year, Mr. Yost spent more than $15,000 to drill four test wells in Section 35. The best of them produced 195 gallons a minute — a warning, he said, that looking further for an isolated pocket of water would be costly and probably futile.

“We’re on the last kick,” he said. “The bulk water is gone.”

Walleye Rodeo 2013 Results

May 16, 17, 18, 19, 2013

Registration:       272            

Oklahoma Residents:       249

Out of State:                       24  

Sunday Kids’ Derby    187

TOTAL OF FISH REGISTERED: 

Walleye                                            204   @      535.00 lbs

Large Mouth Bass                              8     @      23.79 lbs

Small Mouth Bass                             0

Hybrid Bass                                       14   @      33.79 lbs    

Crappie                                             44   @      49.99 lbs  

Channel Cat                                      25    @      89.06 lbs  

White Bass                                        55    @      60.14 lbs

Flathead Cat                                      2     @      11.31 lbs

Sun Fish                                           17    @      7.53 lbs

Carp                                                  17    @      102.44 lbs

Drum                                                13    @      15.97 lbs

Buffalo                                              2     @      33.41 lbs

Striped Bass                                       0

TAGGED FISH CAUGHT:      $1,510.00

$500 tagged Walleye – Lindsey Cravens & Troy Little Raven

KIDS’ DERBY WINNERS

12 & UNDER

Kid’s Derby Winners receive a Trophy & Rod &, Reel

10^th Place –         Taylor Dowell              2lb 5oz Walleye                   

         

 9^th Place  -          Cody Conrady             2lb 5oz Flathead Catfish               

 8^th Place  -          Cayle Mitch                 2lb 6oz Largemouth Bass              

 7^th Place  -          Ledger Lewallen          2lb 15oz Channel Catfish             

 6^th Place  -          Charlie Evans               3lb 1oz Flathead Catfish               

 5^th Place  -          Bryan Nyberg              3lb 1.4oz Carp                      

 4^th Place  -          Belle Swartwood                   3lb 7oz Drum

 3^rd Place  -          Tyler Hicks                  3lb 9oz Channel Catfish                         

 2^nd Place  -         Jace Nelson                  4lb 7oz Channel Catfish                         

 1^st Place  -          Jarrett Sinclair              7lb 7oz Carp                         

                                                         

Striped Bass – #                                                none

          lb

Largest Drum – #53                               Corinne Pitcher, Amarillo, TX

          3.68 lb

Largest Buffalo – #153                          Brevin Nyberg, Seiling, OK

          17.90 lb

Largest Carp – #23                                Jerry Reed, Canton, OK             

          11.76 lb

Largest Sunfish – #126                          A.J. Lindsey, Weatherford, OK

          .58 lb

Largest Flathead – # 121                      James Hromas, Waukomis, OK

          7.62 lb

Largest White Bass – #223                             Jake Sinclair, Watonga, OK

          1.65 lb

Largest Channel Cat – #33                            Greg Ryan, Canton, OK

          9.79 lb

Largest Crappie – #  97                        Clyde Hood, Sr., Canton, OK

          2.04 lb

Largest Large Mouth Bass – #151      Donnie Bromlow, Canton, OK

          6.24 lb

Largest Small Mouth Bass - #              none

           lb

Largest Hybrid – #72                                      Justin Brodie, Canton, OK

5.59 lb

Largest Total Poundage of Walleye – #133 Larry Hromas, Waukomis, OK

69.31 lbs.                               $500.00 Sponsored by

Pioneer Energy Services     

                                                                         

5^th Largest Walleye - #262          Easton Louthan, Weatherford, OK

4.71 lb                                    $200.00 Sponsored by

Premium Beers of Oklahoma

           

4^th Largest Walleye - #54             Rob Pitcher, Amarillo, TX

4.73 lb                                    $350.00 Sponsored by

Pope Distributing

                                 

3^rd Largest Walleye - #8               Dean Nickel, Enid, OK

          4.79 lb                                    $500.00 Sponsored by

Dobrinski Chevrolet

                                                           

2^nd Largest Walleye - #264          Annabelle Hromas, Waukomis, OK

5.12 lb                                    $750.00 Sponsored by Lucky Star Casino Concho, Clinton, Canton & Watonga

                             

1^st Largest Walleye - #24             Rick Jackson, Ringwood, OK

5.73 lb                                    $1,000.00 Sponsored by Lucky Star Casino, Canton

                                       and

                                                          Rod & Reel & Free Fish Mount

                                                Sponsored by Canton Lake Walleye Rodeo