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. ...