Kansas High Plains aquifer levels rise for the first time since 2019
The Kansas Geological Survey reported an average increase of about 0.2 feet across the Kansas High Plains aquifer for 2025, the first overall rise since 2019 after five straight years of decline, driven partly by above-average rainfall.
- Kansas High Plains, 2025
- +0.2 ft (first rise since 2019)
- GMD 3 (southwest)
- -0.62 ft
- Long-term annual average
- -0.57 ft (1996-2025)
- GMD 3 proposed LEMA
- 27.7% reduction over 20 yrs
What happened
The Kansas Geological Survey announced on April 2, 2026 that groundwater levels across the Kansas High Plains aquifer rose an average of about 0.2 feet in 2025, measured across roughly 1,400 wells in January 2026. It was the first overall increase since 2019 after five consecutive years of decline.
The gains were uneven: Equus Beds (GMD 2) rose 2.48 feet and Big Bend (GMD 5) rose 1.5 feet, while Southwest Kansas (GMD 3) fell 0.62 feet and Northwest Kansas (GMD 4) fell 0.21 feet. KGS attributed the improvement partly to above-average rainfall reducing irrigation demand, and noted annual declines across the region averaged 0.57 feet from 1996 to 2025.
What it means if you own water here
One wet year does not change the Ogallala’s trajectory, and southwest Kansas, the heart of the irrigated High Plains, kept declining. GMD 3 has proposed a 25-year LEMA targeting a 27.7 percent reduction in use, and every district faced a July 1, 2026 deadline to file a conservation and stabilization plan with the Chief Engineer.
For owners, tightening district rules change what a groundwater allocation can deliver and therefore what it is worth to lease. Kansas’ Water Banking Act, with five-year groundwater deposits, is the statutory lease channel while those plans take shape.
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