Recently in Those lazy days of summer Category

This summer, I took up bike riding. My favorite route runs on the levee along the Kansas River in North Lawrence. Bike riding on this particular path inspired me to reflect more closely on my water story assignment.

On one side of the levee the river twists and turns steered left and right by the walls of the levee, all neatly contained and managed. On the other side, a trailer park, the railroad tracks and crops of corn bravely butt up against the slope of the levee. Every few hundred feet I pass a USGS marker that measures the height of the water. It's very peaceful and really quite beautiful. It was during one of my weekly rides that I suddenly realized, water is all around me, I've just never really noticed it before.

Eight weeks ago, if you would've asked me to define a watershed, or explain where my water comes from, I wouldn't have been able to. Thanks to our assignment, all the guest speakers, web sites and reports, I now have a better understanding of how important water is to our society.

My story originally began as a quest for data. I was tasked with comparing how Clinton Lake stacks up to other reservoirs in Kansas. Easier said than done. In fact, many of the scientists, environmentalists and engineers I called to ask for numbers laughed in my face. It wasn't a mean or snarky laugh, it was usually a chuckle, followed by a sigh and something along the lines of, "Well, you might try contacting so-and-so at the XYZ office. I think they collect that kind of data." So-and-so usually didn't provide me with very useful data. In the end, I discovered that the real story lies in the perception of what constitutes important and relevant data when it comes to water resources in Kansas. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, the Kansas Water Office, the USGS, Kansas Geological Survey and Kansas Biological Survey all measure different aspects of the water. For people who live in eastern Kansas, the relevant data is all about water quality, does it taste or smell bad? For people out in western Kansas, its all about water quantity, is there enough water to go around?

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I traveled to north central Kansas to visit friends in Mankato, which just so happens to be near Lovewell Lake, a Bureau of Reclamation reservoir.

The drive to Lovewell Lake from Mankato is an easy 15 minutes on a relatively smooth Kansas Highway 14, through the hills, past the rows of corn, milo and soybeans and across the Republic River. I was eager to document how much this small community loved their lake.

The state park manager agreed to meet with me however, everything was to be off the record. I obliged, figuring I would still get information from him. Boy, did I. In a community where a trip to Walmart constitutes a day-long affair, and the park manager labels the quest for toilet paper a "recreational experience," you would think a lake like Lovewell would be a welcome source of entertainment and recreation.

The park manager told me otherwise. His tale was a classic conflict between the farmers who had owned land around the site of Lovewell Lake and the hunters, fishermen and outdoorsmen who travel for miles to use the lake's facilities. The lake was built in 1958, but apparently most of the businesses and farmers around Mankato still despise it.

In this sense, Clinton Lake is a stark contrast. The overall consensus of most local citizens and some of our expert sources, is that Clinton Lake and the dam are a good thing for our community. It has prevented flooding, it provides recreational activities that help boost the local economy, and it supplies drinking water for Lawrence residents. Without Clinton Lake, Lawrence would probably not have grown like it has.

In eastern Kansas we might think we are too busy to worry about big issues like water management. It often isn't until we have a real problem with our water quality that we suddenly "see" water.

Now that all is said and done with the class, I'm happy to report that I have learned a lot, and I think everyone's stories turned out great. The interactive charts and graphs should be posted along with the stories sometime around Labor Day on LJWorld.com.

The ah-ha moment came for me Friday. The light bulb clicked on.

You see, I am not a scientist, and I have never been an environmental reporter. So the definition of watershed was a tricky concept for me to understand. Perhaps I am not alone?

I don't think I can explain watershed in my own words yet, but I am savvy enough to tap into some online resources and link to some explanations.

The Michigan Environmental Education Curriculum provides a nice little animated explanation of watershed.

I have to admit, I played The Watershed Game (novice level, of course). But I scored 100 percent.

The EPA explains watersheds in a more adult-like format.

Over the last three weeks we've been listening to guest speakers talk about water quality, hydrology and watersheds. It wasn't until yesterday that I suddenly understood the definition and boundaries of the Clinton Lake Watershed.

Paul Liechti, associate director of the Kansas Biological Suvey presented information to our class down at The Lawrence Journal-World. For me, Liechti's presentation made all the other guest speakers information fall into context. Now, as the reporter assigned to show how Clinton Lake stacks up, I feel I have a path to follow... down the Wakarusa River.

I no longer feel like I am going up the creek without a paddle.

Kyle Juracek, a research hydrologist for the USGS discussed sedimentation in Kansas reservoirs and provided sediment-related data during our class today.

"A reservoir is a reflection of what is happening upstream, " Juracek said. Which is why it's important to look at sedimentation rates in our Kansas watersheds.

Sedimentation is, "the deposit of silt, soil, clay and/or sand in locations where slow-moving water loses its ability hold heavier particles in suspension" (according to the Layman's Guide to Kansas' Water Terminology & Acronyms).

Once a sediment pool is full, additional sediment will begin filling in a water supply. Some of the numbers Juracek presented really surprised me. For example, according to an estimate for 2005, Tuttle Creek in Manhattan could have around 142,000 acre-feet of sediment. That's more than 292 million lbs! Sediment is heavy. Literally.

When the Army Corp of Engineers designed reservoirs for Kansas, they predicted how long it would take for sedimentation pools to fill. Clinton Lake's design life was 100 years. To be clear, that doesn't mean that Clinton Lake will fill up with sediment by 2080, it just means the engineers estimated that the sedimentation pool would be full by then. One estimate (based on 1991 figures) projected that by 2005 6 percent of Clinton's storage capacity would be lost due to sedimentation.

If you want to learn more about reservoir design, there is a detailed explanation complete with some scary looking engineering algebraic formulas (Courtesy the Texas Department of Transportation).

For Rex Buchanan, measuring water levels in northwest Kansas is his idea of a good time. Maybe he was being sarcastic, but I kinda doubt it.

Rex works for the Kansas Geological Survey. He's a science writer and a teacher as well. Buchanan visited our environmental reporting class on Tuesday to talk about springs, streams and groundwater.

Did you know the Ogallala Aquifer underlies eight states? Buchanan claims he's seen it spelled about fifty different ways by KU journalism students.

Charles Perry, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, briefed our environmental reporting class Thursday about his research on floods and the climate, water and the history of reservoir development in Kansas. We met down at the Lawrence Journal-World and are off and running with our story assignments for the summer.

Perry and Public Affairs Coordinator Donita Turk provided us with a lot of very useful information. For me personally, it was good to see pictures of the flood damage in North Lawrence from 1951. It helped provide a human perspective on the impact of floods.

Part of the information they gave to us included websites for both the USGS and the U.S. Geological Survey Kansas Water Science Center. The Science Center has tons of information. In fact, I found a place to look up water information by county.

I believe the USGS charts, graphs and images will prove very useful in our final multimedia, online reports. There is so much information, and so much vocab that I am beginning to feel overwhelmed. I am a very visual person, so I think running over to the Kansas Geological Survey this afternoon and trying and to get some maps of Clinton Lake, and the Kansas watershed districts will help me, and perhaps the rest of the class, begin to find some focus for our stories.

Professor Rick Musser took his environmental reporting course to Clinton Lake for a lesson aboard a floating classroom on the first day of summer school Tuesday.

The Lawrence Journal World, including its website ljworld.com and Sunflower Cablevision Channel 6, has agreed to partner with the University of Kansas School of Journalism in an in-depth reporting project that examines water quality issues in the Wakarusa River watershed. The area feeds Clinton Reservoir, a major source of water for the city of Lawrence and surrounding communities.

This project will unfold during the summer and will produce a multimedia report on the issues affecting water quality in the area. Students will work with editors to determine which issues merit major coverage and then research, report and write stories, scripts and design graphics to tell the stories to the Douglas County audience.

Funding from a WaterLINK mini-grant made it possible for the School of Journalism and Mass Communications to schedule this limited enrollment, specialized course without the budget constraints that tend to limit summer offerings to classes that serve broad numbers of news and strategic communications students.

Chris Mammoliti, a biologist and partner in the Watershed Institute Inc., provided information about various effects of the Clinton dam on the biological systems in the watershed.

Aimee Polson a coordinator for the Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance, and one of the cooperating partners in the grant, suggested Mammoliti as guest expert and helped arrange the tour at Clinton.

It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny morning and the students agreed this was the best first day of class ever — despite being stranded in the middle of the lake with a dead battery before Mammoliti's WaveRunner escort roared to their rescue.

I'm pretty sure I heard crickets in the newsroom this morning.

It can't be more than 70 degrees in here. Maybe colder. We'll need to check with Carlena to see if she has a thermometer. We can't see our breath yet, but it is necessary to wear a jacket.

Katie has been diligently working alone in the Multimedia Newsroom this week. I've been holed up in my office and running back and forth to Stauffer-Flint (our other building) trying to prepare for summer school.

We are planning some exciting changes to tv.ku.edu next fall. Stay tuned for the inside scoop on our continuing evolution.

Next week, Rick, Katie and I will be out of the office. There will be no one in the newsroom. I wonder if the police scanner will notice?