Topeka ? Top Kansas environmental officials clashed Tuesday with agricultural interests over a plan to expand the state’s authority to borrow money for water projects.

State officials said the measure would provide money for needed projects to meet drinking water demands, protect groundwater, repair dams and reservoirs, and build new recreational lakes for Kansans.

“We need more tools to meet the many needs before us now, and the many more we must face in the future,” said Ken Grotewiel, assistant director of the Kansas Water Office.

Grotewiel told members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee about a number of projects that could be done if the state’s water-related agencies were allowed to issue bonds. They include extending the life of Perry Reservoir, building Horsethief Reservoir in western Kansas, the purchase of groundwater rights in connection with development of the proposed Circle K Ranch park near Kinsley, and the purchase of reservoir storage for public water supplies in Hays and Russell.

“This bill is the cutting edge or the new frontier,” Kansas Wildlife and Parks Secretary Mike Hayden told the committee. Without the measure, Hayden said, state officials can’t even make plans for water projects.

The bill was supported by the Kansas Water Office, Department of Agriculture, Conservation Commission and Wildlife and Parks.

Former House Speaker Robin Jennison, of Healy, also spoke in support of the bill, saying it would help develop the Horsethief Reservoir, a planned 400-acre lake near Jetmore.

But the Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Assn. and other agriculture groups opposed the measure, saying they feared the expanded authority would be used to take land and water rights from farmers and ranchers.

Opponents of the proposed Circle K park in southwestern Kansas also spoke against the measure.

Kansas Water Office Kansas Farm Bureau Conservation Commission Kansas Wildlife and Parks Kansas Department of Agriculture Kansas Livestock Association

Darrel Pettay, a grain elevator operator from Kinsley, said the state was running roughshod over the agriculture and business interests near the Circle K.

“This will greatly affect my livelihood and I don’t want it taken away from me,” he said.

Kinsley Mayor Michael Herrman said the bill would give state officials too much power.

“SB 539 provides water-related officials with what they want, big dollars and expedient open-ended statutory powers without the need to present the Legislature with comprehensive planning.”

But state officials denied that. They said under the bill they would still have to get the approval of the Legislature and governor to go forward with any projects.

Steve Swaffar, environmental programs director of the Kansas Farm Bureau, said the bill represented “an enormous change in policy.” He said he feared that efforts to increase recreational lands would be at the expense of farmers and ranchers.

“Our policy directly opposes the purchase of land by the state or federal government,” he said.

Sen. Stephen Morris, R-Hugoton, the committee chairman, said he didn’t know what the bill’s fate would be.

“There are a lot of controversial items in there,” he said.