Encourage students to draw on prior knowledge from travel, news, logic, relatives, etc. If time allows, discuss water quality issues. To begin to understand water access rights in Kansas, you must recognize that a limited amount of water exists. We can only access a small portion of the water that is not in glaciers, oceans or seas. Much of the surface and ground water has some level of contamination.
Water quality is usually a separate issue from water access rights.
Citizens of Kansas automatically have right to the water for domestic use. For uses other than domestic you must be granted rights from the Chief Engineer's Office. In awarding water rights several factors must be considered. First, the level of seniority or how long rights have been accessed at that site. Water rights can be sold, just like mineral rights, with or without the land.