Sedimentation can't be stopped, but it can be slowed
Full article from Kansas Farmer magazine, January 2015, page 8 Written by Tyler Harris, Kansas Farmer magazine
Kansas' federal reservoirs aren't that old. The first one, Kanopolis, was built in 1948.
Two-thirds of Kansans rely on these reservoirs for water in one way or another. There are another 200,000 impoundments of all sizes across Kansas. As many know, these reservoirs are facing a problem. "They're all filling with sediment, and we can't stop it," says Jerry deNoyelles, deputy director and senior scientist at the Kansas Biological Survey and University of Kansas professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
On average, all 24 federal reservoirs in the state will have lost 43% of storage capacity by the end of the century--that's about 2.3 billion cubic yards of sediment. ...