Welcome to the MyKansasWatershed.com homepage.  Here you will find everything we do from watershed projects to community and school education and how you can get involved in protecting water resources.  Take time to browse our pages and find out what a watershed is, what's in your water, how much it's raining across the watershed, and ideas that producers and citizens across the watershed are implementing to protect our water resources.

The WRAPS project, better known as Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategies, began its foothold in the Big Creek and Middle Smoky Hill River watershed back in 2003.  Since then much has changed in the process but much remains the same as we are still committed to serve and educate the citizens of the watershed at water protection strategies.  The program was initiated to protect water resources in the area by serving as a liasion between the producer/citizen and federal government programs.

The Watershed Projects initiative is due in large part for the need to protect and restore water resources in the State of Kansas.  Watershed teams across the state are in one of four stages in developing a Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategies (WRAPS) plan.  The purpose of the WRAPS plan is to outline a plan of restoration and protection goals and actions for surface and groundwaters in the watersheds. 

Water quality goals are characterized as "restoration" or "protection."  Restoration is needed in waters that do not meet water quality standards.  Protection goals are needed to ensure that the current health of the water does not deteriorate.

Watershed -- the area of land which supplies water to a stream and its tributaries by direct runoff and by groundwater contribution.
Watershed Restoration And Protection Strategy (WRAPS) -- a plan of restoration and protection goals and actions for the surface and groundwaters of a watershed.
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) -- the amount of a pollutant that a stream or lake can received and still meet water quality standards.
Pollutants -- harmful substances that contaminate the air, soil, or water.
Best Management Practice  -- methods and practices such as good housekeeping, spill prevention, or treatment measures to prevent or minimize pollutant discharges to a water body.
Point Source Pollution --  pollution coming directly from a pipe or from a source that has a permit to operate and must contain and apply waste loading as required by their permit.
Non-Point Source Pollution -- pollution discharged other than through a pipe or ditch over a wide land area, originating from different sources, which enter water bodies through run-off or snowmelt and deposits the pollutants into ground or surface waters.