Dye-tracing plan for verifying the Kansas River time-of-travel model

The Kansas River provides drinking water for multiple cities in northeastern Kansas and is used for recreational purposes. Thus, improving the scientific knowledge of streamflow velocities and traveltimes will greatly aid in water-treatment plans and response to critical events and threats to water supplies. Dye-tracer studies are usually done to enhance knowledge of transport characteristics, which include streamflow velocities, traveltimes, and dispersion rates, within a river system. To achieve this in the Kansas River, rhodamine water-tracing dye is planned to be injected into the Kansas River during three different flow ranges at three locations: Manhattan, Topeka, and Eudora. The primary purpose of doing a dye-tracer study in the Kansas River is to calibrate a time-of-travel model used for estimating streamflow velocities and traveltimes, which can be used by the public as well as drinking water suppliers to protect water resources and public-water supplies.