The Smoky Hill-Saline Basin in Kansas is an elongated drainage
area, which extends eastward from the Colorado border
approximately 250 miles to the vicinity of Junction City,
Kansas. The Smoky Hill River headwaters are located in eastern
Colorado where the North and South Forks rise. These forks join
in Logan County, Kansas. The Smoky Hill flows eastward to
Junction City where the confluence with the Republican River is
located. Below this point the river is known as the Kansas
River. The Smoky Hill River has a drainage area of about 8,810
square miles (see Figure 1). The Saline River, a tributary of
the Smoky Hill, rises near the Sherman-Thomas County line in
extreme western Kansas. The Saline flows eastward to its
confluence with the Smoky Hill River several miles east of
Salina, Kansas. The drainage area of the Saline River is about
3,419 square miles, giving the entire Smoky Hill-Saline Basin in
Kansas a drainage area of about 12,229 square miles.
Three large federal irrigation and/or flood control projects are
located in the Smoky Hill-Saline Basin. Cedar Bluff Lake is
located on the Smoky Hill River in Trego County. This is a
Bureau of Reclamation project. Wilson Lake on the Saline River
and Kanopolis Lake on the Smoky Hill River are operated and
maintained by the Corps of Engineers.
Topography within the basin is flat to gently rolling, with
narrow, shallow valleys and low relief. The highest point in
Kansas, Mount Sunflower at 4,039 feet, is located in
northwestern Wallace County. From this point, elevations in the
basin decrease to approximately 1,087 feet at the confluence of
the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers.
Due to the extreme east-west extent of this basin and the
differences in altitude, the basin exhibits strong variations in
climate and land-use patterns. While agriculture is the
predominant economic activity throughout, irrigation takes on
added significance in the semiarid west.
Average annual precipitation in the Smoky Hill-Saline Basin
decreases from about 33 inches in the east to less than 16
inches in the west. Mean annual runoff also shows an east to
west decline, from about 5.0 inches in the east to less than 0.1
inch in the west. More than 75 percent of the precipitation
occurs during the April-September growing season.
Ground water accounts for nearly 97 percent of reported 1997
water use in this basin. Irrigation accounts for approximately
90 percent of all water used with municipal the next largest
user at about 6 percent. The remaining use is from stockwater,
industry and recreation.
