Playas Helping Kansas
Did you know that you can receive revenue from conservation programs for restoring playas on your land while also benefiting your operation and supporting future generations?
Playas help recharge the Ogallala Aquifer, naturally filter groundwater, and create vital habitat for wildlife. With more than 22,000
playas across Kansas, landowners over the Ogallala Aquifer are in a unique position to help secure the region’s water future. Restoring these natural recharge wetlands is key to replenishing groundwater and providing critical habitat for birds and other wildlife,when paired with strategies that reduce aquifer overuse.
What Are Playas?
Found at the lowest point of a watershed, playas are round, shallow basins lined with clay soil that collect and hold rainfall and runoff, forming temporary wetlands.
Playas are recharge wetlands, meaning water flows through them to the underlying aquifer. Playas are a primary source of groundwater recharge, contributing up to 95 percent of water flowing to the aquifer, with recharge rates in playas 10 to 1,000 times higher than under other areas.
According to USGS Circular: Recharge Rates and Chemistry Beneath Playas of the High Plains Aquifer, the average annual recharge rate across the playa region is about three inches; that’s three inches of water the size of the playa moving toward the aquifer each year.
In addition, water reaching the aquifer through playas is of higher quality than that going through other pathways; healthy playas are water filtration systems, reducing contaminants reaching the groundwater.
While recharge occurs slowly – sometimes decades to centuries depending on the depth of the aquifer — restoring playas still represents one of the most effective and economical ways to return water to the aquifer.
Playas, when healthy, can provide a sustainable water source for communities and rain-fed operations, as well as water filtration, flood control, livestock forage and recreation.
Incorporating Playas Into Broader Water Planning Efforts
Although playas are a primary source of recharge, irrigation pumping from the aquifer greatly exceeds groundwater recharge from playas.
Communities can proactively address a declining water supply by restoring playas and adopting irrigation practices that reduce the impacts from aquifer overuse. Once water use has been reduced, healthy playas can provide a sustainable source of future water.
By reducing aquifer overuse, restoring playas, and managing runoff within playa watersheds, communities can ensure a sustainable water supply for communities and future generations.
Tomorrow’s Water, which supports communities in these efforts, is an adaptive, collaborative process in which local communities partner with conservation organizations to create an actionable plan to stabilize their water supply – with a focus on incorporating playa conservation as part of broader water quantity and quality efforts.
Each community is unique and, as such, each water conservation effort is unique, too. In many cases, this work includes pairing playa restoration with efforts to reduce aquifer overuse through irrigation efficiency and other methods.
Take the first step today in learning how to put your playas to work.
Learn more at PlayasWorkForKansas.com.
“The Tomorrow’s Water model helps communities explore ways to provide future water by reducing the impacts from aquifer overuse and increasing groundwater recharge through playas.
It is an adaptive, collaborative process for creating an actionable plan to stabilize community water supplies — with a focus on incorporating playa conservation
as part of broader water quantity and quality efforts.”
