Water well owners in Kansas tend to be more aware of issues relating to state water policies than citizens whose water is supplied by municipal water networks, a new study has found. This could in turn have implications for environmental policy and groundwater management, says Brock Ternes, a PhD student at the University of Kansas, who conducted the study for his doctoral thesis in sociology.

For his study, Ternes conducted a survey interviewing 864 Kansas residents, questioning them about their water supply and water use habits, as well as their awareness to water related issues, including policy. He found that residents that depended on private wells for their water supply were more concerned with issues related to water depletion in the High Plains Aquifer — the underground aquifer that serves as a freshwater reservoir lying beneath a large portion of western Kansas — and tended to be significantly more informed about state water policies and more aware of key water management agencies than those who didn't own wells.

"The people who use private wells for water are more likely to hear about water-related policy issues and pay attention to them," said Ternes, who will present his study at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) this week.

He found, for example, that well owners were more knowledgeable about the proposed Kansas Aqueduct — an $18 billion waterworks project that would involve diverting water from the Missouri River to provide water to water scarce areas of western Kansas. Residents who didn't own wells tended to be less aware of this gigantic water project.

Like many other regions that have been affected by recent droughts, rural Kansas has been suffering from water scarcity issues. Water extraction from the High Plains Aquifer, which is the primary source of groundwater for the region, has been excessive to meet irrigation demands of the agricultural sector, and researchers caution that wells in some areas of southwestern Kansas are likely to run dry in the next 25 years if pumping is not curtailed.

Ternes' water survey also revealed that well owners considered water conservation a top priority to ensure they would still have water in the future. Ternes refers to the term 'groundwater citizenship' which encourages aquifer stewardship and concerted water conservation efforts to ensure groundwater supplies are not depleted so that there will still be water available in the future.

"Most well owners believe securing water is one of the top political challenges facing Kansas, and water policies are more likely to influence their vote in local and state elections than Kansans who don't own wells," said Ternes. "My data suggest that well owners have different political priorities than non-well owners and conserve water with the hopes of extending their supply, which makes them a unique type of citizen."

Ternes believes the study could provide valuable information to Kansas water officials and policymakers in looking for potential solutions for preventing the High Plains Aquifer from becoming depleted. If they grasp the significance of engaging with well owners who feel strongly about water conserving water, it can help boost public awareness of water conservation issues generally, bringing these important issues more into the limelight.

"Water supply infrastructure is clearly connected to how in-tune people are with their natural resources, which is profoundly important for environmental policymaking and survival in the Anthropocene," Ternes said.

Many states are vulnerable to water exploitation, which is exacerbated in times of drought. Yet water resources need to be managed appropriately to ensure water availability in the future. In this modern day and age, with improved technologies that allow us to readily access natural resources such as water, it may seem that water availability is much higher that what it really is, when in fact it is a finite resource that is now more scarce than ever.

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The paper, "'Groundwater Citizenship' and Water Supply Awareness: Investigating Water-Related Infrastructure, the Kansas Aqueduct, and Well Ownership," will be presented on Monday, Aug. 22, at 8:30 a.m. PDT in Seattle at the American Sociological Association's 111th Annual Meeting.