Showing posts with label kansas GMD's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kansas GMD's. Show all posts

Monday, March 28, 2011

Extremes Make It...Well, Extreme

The law of statistics is the more data variability you have, the harder it is to describe.  And of course, the harder it is to describe, the harder it is to manage.

In our groundwater management district - all or parts of the 10 NW Kansas Counties (Map of KS GMDs) we seem to have quite a range of conditions to try and manage.  For example, our saturated thicknesses range from 0 feet to 210 feet of water - the average being about 75 feet.  The decline rates range from about 1.7 feet per year to rises of a few tenths of a foot per year - the average being .5 feet of decline per year.  Our Transmissivities range from about 8,000 gpd/ft to 125,000 gpd/ft - average is about 18,000 gpd/ft. 

We have areas of thick saturated thickness that are barely declining - all the way to thinner areas of saturated thickness that have higher decline rates.  Well development density is also all over the board, from Townships with one or two wells to one with 80 wells.  Bottom line is that everything we try to do we have to consider sliding scales, weighted formulas, or whatever it takes to make sure that management decisions don't under manage one area while over managing another.  The old saying that "One size doesn't fit all" is certainly true here.

Later I'll go into a bit more detail along these lines with some examples.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Kansas GMD Managerial History

For the Kansas groundwater folks that might be interested, I have put together a personnel roster (in chronological order) of all the GMD managers since the GMD's were authorized back in 1975 - a little stroll down memory lane if I can be indulged.

Western Kansas GMD 1 (Green district - Scott City, KS) has had two active managers: Keith Lebbin and currently David Brenn.

Equus Beds GMD 2 (Pink district - Halstead, KS) has employed the following managers:  Tom Bell; Mike Dealy; Lee Wheeler and currently Tim Boese.

Southwest Kansas GMD 3 (Yellow district - Garden City, KS):  David Pope; Rick Illgner; Gary Baker; Steve Frost; Hank Hansen and currently Mark Rude.

Northwest Kansas GMD 4 (Blue district - Colby, KS):  This is the GMD I work for, and I have been the only manager.   Since I am the only remaining original GMD manager in Kansas, I guess it's up to me to record this bit of Kansas groundwater trivia.

Big Bend GMD 5 (Orange district - Stafford, KS):  Rick Sloan; Ralph Davis and currently Sharon Falk.

If more history of the GMD's would be of interest, comment back on this post as to what you'd like to see presented.

Update - posted April 13, 2011:  Wes Essmiller now manages GMD 5 with the departure of Sharon Falk in the Summer of 2010.


Update - posted July 26, 2011:  Jan King now manages GMD 1 with the departure of David Brenn in June, of 2011.

Update - Orrin Feril now manages GMD 5 with the departure of Wes Essmiller in the Summer of 2012.