Reno County residents digging deeper into water wells due to ongoing drought

RENO COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) — The ongoing drought is continuing to affect homeowners. Some in Reno County are now having to dig deeper into their water wells.

The properties here rely on groundwater for drinking water and to water trees, but in recent years, conditions have gotten drier and drier, forcing homeowners to drill deeper for water.

According to the National Integrated Drought Information System, 100% of people in Reno County are affected by the drought. That’s up 7% from July and impacts over 64,000 people. Nearly 140,000 acres of soybeans are in drought in the county, and harvest starts in September.

One man living here says that over the 60 years he has lived in the area, he has watched his wells dry up. He says he just dug a new well much deeper than his previous ones a few years back.

“I mean, you talk with the guys that drill the wells. I mean, in this area, in the surrounding areas, a lot of people have lost their wells,” said Pretty Prairie resident Dave Graber.

Another Pretty Prairie resident says three of his four wells are dried up. They started running out of water in the ’90s and 2000s, and he says they have to dig wells deeper each time.

“Now, this well right here, it’s about 120 feet deep. It’s the third time we’ve had to drill to find water in the last 10 to 15 years since all the irrigation went in,” said Pretty Prairie resident Joe Seiwert.

Seiwert doesn’t blame the drought for the shortage of groundwater. He says the shortage is caused by too many people drawing from groundwater to irrigate it, and he wants more regulation of water use.

Graber says it seems like the water table has been going down for the last several years. He says there’s no reason to live in this area without water, and they cannot survive without groundwater.

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