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The state created a plan in 2003 to keep a predominantly Black neighborhood in Wichita informed about toxic groundwater in their community. It failed to follow through on several key aspects.
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Scientists in Kansas and Iowa are working on a greener path forward. In the meantime, experts offer tips for public agencies and homeowners to use salt smarter.
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Record-setting lack of rain in 2022 transformed parts of western Kansas into a temporary desert. And it'll take a while for the region's fields, towns and mindsets to recover.
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A new study from Kansas State University researchers is the first to measure how a changing climate is hurting wheat production in the Great Plains. And it points to a future with more extreme heat, drought and wind.
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Shayla Curts was pregnant with her third child when she was shot and killed in December. Her family says this might not have happened if Jackson County's child welfare system had worked like it was supposed to. Plus: The plan to conserve water in western Kansas and save the region from drying up altogether.
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After decades of irrigation, the aquifer that makes life possible in dry western Kansas is reaching a critical point. Several counties have already lost more than half of their underground water. But a new plan could save more of what’s left.
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For the first time, the state board voted Wednesday to say that Kansas shouldn’t pump the Ogallala aquifer dry to support crop irrigation. The underground water source has seen dramatic declines in recent decades.
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Think of this year’s drought as a sort of dress rehearsal to consider the drier, hotter future that scientists predict climate change has in store. Long-lasting droughts could alter the way we live.
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From deadly wildfires to choking dust storms to decimated crop harvests, this year’s drought has left its mark across the country. For the hardest hit areas, such as the Great Plains, recovering from the far-reaching impacts of this historically dry year won’t be easy.
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The project is meant to prove that large transfers of water could be a tool to help save the disappearing Ogallala Aquifer, which provides irrigation and drinking water to western Kansas. But other groundwater management officials say it’s a distraction from the far more urgent task of conservation.
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Missouri is one of only two states where control of its National Guard does not rest with the governor, but Amendment 5 could change that in November. Plus: Engineers in Kansas are trying a new way to prevent reservoirs from getting filled with mud.
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Reservoirs that feed the Kansas River during times of drought are filling up with mud. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has an idea to slow the process.