Water Resources Division
4821 Quail Crest Place
Lawrence, Kansas 66049-3839
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF HYDROLOGIST
For release: May 4, 1995
BORN IN KANSAS: NATION'S LARGEST WATER INFORMATION PROGRAM
CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF FEDERAL-STATE PARTNERSHIPS
In ceremonies today (May 4, 1995) in Topeka, State and Federal officials will celebrate the birth 100 years ago of a small Kansas program that grew into the Nation's largest cooperative effort to measure the water resources of the country. "Every State in the country owes a debt to the foresight of a few Kansas officials who in 1895 recognized the benefit of pooling State and local resources with the Federal Government to collect mutually important water resource information," said Robert Hirsch, Chief Hydrologist of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). "From the single Kansas agency working with the USGS in 1895 to measure the flow in six State rivers, the USGS Federal-State Cooperative program now involves more than 1,100 agencies in all 50 States, cooperatively monitoring surface-water and ground-water quantity and quality at more than 40,000 sites," Hirsch said. "The program highlights a simple fact, true then and now: Working in partnership, pooling resources, we avoid duplicated efforts and we can do more with less," the USGS spokesman said.
A recognition ceremony and poster presentation is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., in the Old Supreme Court Meeting Room of the Capitol Building in Topeka. The activities will be attended by Hirsch, Kansas State Engineer, David Pope, and Stephen Hurst, Director of the Kansas Water Office.
The USGS Cooperative Water Resources Program is supported by equal financial contributions by the USGS and by 23 State and local agencies in Kansas. Since the 1895 inception, the USGS, in cooperation with government agencies in the State of Kansas, has produced more than 1,000 scientific publications relating to water issues most of which were supported by this program. Water resources information from this partnership has enabled water managers and others to better operate reservoir systems for water supply, flood control, and hydroelectric power; plan and develop new water supplies; provide flood forecasts and warnings; devise flood-plain management programs; design bridges and other water-related structures; address interstate- and intrastate-water rights; and determine the effects of agricultural chemicals, urban-stormwater runoff, and solid wastes on water quality.
During the celebration, Hirsch, Pope, and Hurst, will speak on the value of this cost sharing partnership in meeting the needs of Federal, State and local interests. They also will address the benefits of having a single non-regulatory agency contribute to water resource data collection and analysis in a consistent, objective manner. Following their brief remarks, posters and demonstrations will be available that describe some of the recent water resources information projects initiated as a part of this program in Kansas.
For more information, contact Walter R. Aucott, District Chief, U.S. Geological Survey, telephone: 913-832-3505 or FAX: 913-832-3500.
***USGS***
