Reservoirs are a vital source of water supply, provide recreational opportunities, support diverse aquatic habitat, and provide flood protection throughout Kansas. Understanding agricultural, industrial, and urban effects on reservoirs is important not only for maintaining acceptable water quality in the reservoirs but also for preventing adverse environmental effects. Excessive sediment can alter the aesthetic qualities of reservoirs and affect their water quality and useful life. However, some reservoir watersheds in Kansas either lack or have an inadequate data base to use a statistical approach. Some data from surveys at selected cross sections (rangelines) prior to dam closure are available for reservoirs in Kansas completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) or the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began studying reservoir sedimentation in Kansas in 1995. Nine reservoir studies have been carried out in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, the city of Wichita, Johnson County Unified Wastewater Districts, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and (or) the Kansas Water Office. These studies were supported in part by the Kansas State Water Plan Fund and evaluated sediment deposition along with selected chemical constituents in sediment cores (fig. 1) from reservoirs located in various climatic, topographic, and geologic landscape regions throughout Kansas and southern Nebraska. Selected results from four of the reservoirs studied are summarized in this fact sheet Webster Reservoir, Cheney Reservoir, Tuttle Creek Lake, and Hillsdale Lake (fig. 2).