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The Kansas River is the main river in the north of the state of Kansas. It stretches about the 280 kilometres (170 miles) and drains directly into the Missouri. It is formed by the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers at Junction City. It flows into the Missouri River at Kansas City. Tributaries of the Kansas include the Big Blue, the Republican, the Solomon, the Saline, the Smoky Hill, the Black Vermillion, and the Delaware. The devastating droughts of the Dust Bowl times in the 1930s, combined with the frequent floods have caused a spate of dam building. Many rivers have been dammed to help with flood control and also to provide water supplies, both for irrigation and public water supplies. The largest reservoirs in the Kansas basin are Wilson Lake, Tuttle Creek Lake, Perry Lake, and Milford Lake. Below the surface lies part of a very large limestone aquifer. This is used for irrigation water, but, as in other parts of the Great Plains, the Ogallala Aquifer, is being drained faster than it can be replenished. |
