Lenexa

Drug research company plans to add 200 jobs

PRA International Inc. plans a $20 million expansion of its Lenexa operations and will add about 200 jobs over the next three years.

The drug development company said Thursday construction would begin later this month and was expected to be finished in about a year.

“That location is one of our flagship operations,” said Pat Donnelly, president and chief executive officer of the McLean, Va.-based company. “It is one of our largest offices around the world. We have been very impressed with the quality of the work force over the years.”

The additional 200 workers will raise employment to about 525 at the Lenexa facility. Employees plan, design and coordinate clinical drug trials, as well as analyze results from the trials and prepare them for submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Colorado

Kansas claims big share of Arkansas River water

Kansas has taken about 18,000 acre-feet of Arkansas River water over the past two weeks, reducing storage at John Martin Reservoir by about half.

Engineer Steve Witte, whose duties include supervising Colorado’s water obligation to Kansas, said Kansas last year never called for the water in the reservoir between Las Animas and Lamar.

“So as soon as weather permitted this year, they called for release of all their water,” he said this week.

Kansas’ share of the water is depleted now, Witte said.

“Unless there’s a storm that allows more storage this summer, they will only be entitled to naturally occurring river flow the rest of the summer,” he said.

The pool at John Martin dropped from 38,500 acre-feet on March 27, the day before the release began, to 16,200 acre-feet this week. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough to cover an acre 1 foot deep and about enough water to serve one or two families per year.