Water Project Faces Challenges

Aside from the potentially billions of dollars it could cost to divert water from the Missouri River to western Kansas, the negotiations among interested parties would make such an infrastructure project a daunting task.

States along the river depend on water for agriculture, industry and navigation, beginning at the headwaters in Montana and extending to the confluence with the Mississippi at St. Louis. Officials say getting all those interests to sign off on a project to that would divert 4 million acre feet of water for western Kansas will take time.

John Grothaus, chief of plans formulation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, says hurdles for a 360-mile aqueduct are high but worth exploring.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has already let Kansas know he doesn’t like the idea.