By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

COLBY -- Last year, only one person attended the annual meeting of Groundwater Management District No. 4. And he was a former member of the board of the directors.

This year might be different, considering one director said he won't be staying on the board and nomination forms have gone out for two other positions.

And there will be a presentation by the Kansas Geological Survey on hydraulic fracturing -- a sometimes misunderstood and frequently controversial process used to squeeze as much oil and gas out of the ground as possible.

The meeting will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the City Limits Convention Center in Colby, according to GMD 4 manager Wayne Bossert. The program on fracking is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

At the board meeting, four positions are up for election.

"It looks like we will maybe have multiple nominations for two other positions," Bossert said, pointing to nomination forms that have been obtained from the district office.

In addition, the board will hear about the audit for 2011 and the 2013 budget will have to be approved.

The keynote presentation on fracking will draw some people in, Bossert said, noting he's already received calls on the topic.

Bossert is hopeful the meeting will attract attention, what with all the discussions about water going on in the Legislature.

"There ought to be interest in the LEMA proposal going on," he said.

Otherwise known as a Local Enhanced Management Plan, legislation that would create the LEMA process now is working its way through the Kansas Legislature. It was one of several legislative suggestions made by the Ogallala Aquifer Advisory Committee, created by the Kansas Water Authority in the hope of conserving and extending the life of the massive aquifer that underlies much of western Kansas.

Under the LEMA process, groundwater management districts can seek special rules for areas suffering from dramatic water level declines.

A hearing on the bill was conducted last week, and Bossert said all the comments were favorable.

"No one in opposition whatsoever," he said.

Bossert said the hearing went well, and he anticipates it soon will move to the Senate floor for action there.

"We anticipate absolutely no trouble at all advancing it over to the House," he said.