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Numbers flowed freely Thursday as Sen. Jerry Moran began a tour to check on the quality and quantity of water around the state.
Two of the most significant ones Moran heard during his stops in Harvey and Sedgwick counties were $46,000 and $26 million.
President Obama's proposed 2012 budget has only $46,000 allocated to help pay for Wichita's Aquifer Storage and Recovery program, intended to provide drinking water from the Equus Beds aquifer for 550,000 people through at least 2050.
But the city is eligible to receive $26 million for the program by the time the project is completed in October 2012. That was authorized by Congress in 2006.
Quite a gap. Moran said he would look into it.
"We'll go back and try to make certain (the money is there)," he said.
In these troubled budget times, that may take some doing. The federal 2011 budget still hasn't been finalized, instead limping along from one emergency measure to another.
Moran said his stops to get the aquifer project's eligible money in the 2012 budget will include talking to the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that oversees water resource management.
"At some point we will have an allocation for the bureau's funding," Moran said. "Our goal will be to work with the bureau to make sure a portion of the money they receive is utilized for this project."
He said the $46,000 in the proposed budget serves as a "place holder."
"It's better to have something there than nothing," said Moran, Kansas' first-term senator who served seven terms in the House.
Tour focuses on water
His comments came during his annual conservation tour of the state. This year it focuses on water, a hot topic after much of the state has been hit by a severe drought.
The project is an important piece of this area's water supply. It will pump river water into the aquifer to hold back encroaching saltwater.
Once it's operating, it will have the capacity to pump either 15 million or 30 million gallons daily out of the Little Arkansas River back into the Equus Beds aquifer.
The Equus Beds is south-central Kansas' primary fresh water source. It lies under parts of Sedgwick, Harvey, Reno and McPherson counties.
About $227 million has been spent on the ASR, which is almost complete. Project officials hope to have it operating by next spring.
That depends on the drought. Pumping is only done when the river is above flood stage. It's projected that the aquifer program will be able to pump an average of 117 days per year, said Stan Breitenbach, a special projects engineer for the city.
Project funding
When financing for the ASR program was established, 87 percent was to come from Wichita water utility revenues, 12 percent from the federal government and 1 percent from the state.
Thus far the federal government has chipped in $4.1 million, or less than 2 percent of the total cost.
The state was asked to contribute $1 million yearly over eight years, starting in 2007. So far it has provided $2.5 million.
Unlike the federal government, the state never officially authorized a total amount. The city makes its $1 million request each year, said Dale Goter, the city's government relations manager.
Although the federal government is not in a spending mood these days, Moran said the project has some selling points.
He said there has been strong congressional support for recharging the Equus Beds aquifer, and the project is part of the nation's infrastructure.
"Many members of Congress think we ought to be investing in long-term projects that create jobs today in construction, engineering... and provide benefits to American taxpayers over generations," he said. "This is an important project that has significant consequences for the state and directly to the city of Wichita.
"In the meantime, we'll pray for rain."
What Wichita will pay
Congress' authorization for ASR money is good through 2016. After that time, the city would have to lobby to get it back in the budget.
City staff members, however, don't expect to see all of the federal or state money originally pledged to the project. They say Wichita's rate payers and wholesale customers will pay more than 95 percent of the program's expense.
If the federal and state money doesn't come, Wichita water bills wouldn't be affected much, said Denice Bruce, spokeswoman for the aquifer project. Only 1 to 3 percent of planned annual water rate increases through 2020 are attributed to the aquifer program.
In any case, the program will move forward.
"We don't have an option," said Debra Ary, the city's superintendent of water production and pumping. "If we don't do this, we'll go past the drinking water standards by 2050."
