Caney Valley Schools Take Measures To Conserve Water During Drought

Schools in Caney, Kansas, are strictly limiting water consumption as the town deals with severe drought.

The schools have already taken measures like limiting access to faucets and using hand sanitizer instead. But the school superintendent says more measures are on the way.

Superintendent Blake Vargas says critically low water levels are prompting Caney Valley Schools to implement a series of measures to minimize water usage.

Related: Town Of Caney, Kansas Facing Extreme Water Shortage

“Just in general, what we're doing to make sure we are doing our part to keep our water here as long as we can in Caney,” Vargas said.

Those measures include bringing in trailer restrooms on Wednesday that will use water from outside the city.

There will be bottled drinking water for students.

The district is also scheduling shortened school weeks periodically throughout the year.

“Obviously, when you're out of school for a day, there's some concern with that,” Vargas said. “Again, we feel very confident in the way that we're going to approach it. We know that we've always had very great academic as well as athletic and activity success."

By taking these measures, Vargas anticipates seeing a significant difference in usage -- and will be monitoring the school's water meter daily.

“We do know that we've seen some of that already as our measures are going down. We looked at it today as it's gone, overall. We'll be able to track that. It'll be very transparent on our website,” he said.

He says there aren't any cancellations of school events or athletic games despite the new changes.

Next Monday is the first day students will not be in school.

The district will revisit the measures on November 13.