The drought that continues to grip parts of Kansas, and the impact it’s having on farming and local communities, will be the subject of a symposium this week at Kansas University.

“Beyond the Long Hot Summer: The Future of Water in Kansas” is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in the Commons at Spooner Hall on the KU campus.

Rex Buchanan, interim director of Kansas Geological Survey, will be among presenters at the symposium. He recently completed an annual survey of wells in the Ogallala Aquifer region of western Kansas and reported that water tables in the area have declined dramatically in the last two years, largely because the drought is causing farmers to pump more water from underground for irrigation.

The symposium is sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s C-Change project at KU, an interdisciplinary training program that focuses on climate change and its impact on society.

Also on the panel will be Johannes Feddema, chair of KU’s Department of Geography, who has contributed research for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Other panelists include Aavudai Anandhi, agronomy professor at Kansas State University; Anthony Layzell, a KU doctoral student in geology and geomorphology; James Butler of the Kansas Geological Survey; Susan Stover of the Kansas Water Office; and Don Steeples, a professor of geophysics at KU.

The event is free and open to the public.