Topeka Field Office

Katie Tietsort - Water Commissioner (Katie's Bio)

Topeka Field Office Area Map

Information Regarding the Recent Meter Orders in the Topeka Field Office Area

The Topeka Field Office is responsible for all or parts of 44 counties located in the eastern third of the state. This includes all or portions of five major river basins - Kansas, Missouri, Marais des Cygnes, Neosho, and Verdigris. Under the supervision of its Water Commissioner, the field office staff act as agents of the Chief Engineer to monitor and regulate the use of water according to the Kansas Water Appropriation Act and the rules and regulations dealing with water administration within the boundaries shown on the map below.

The Parsons Satellite Office opened on October 22, 2007, as an extension of the Topeka Field Office. 

The area contains water rights from both surface and groundwater sources. There are approximately equal numbers of points of diversion from both of these sources of supply. The majority of the water rights are associated with irrigation, but a significant number of industrial and municipal water rights also exist in this area.

Responsibilities of the Topeka Field Office include:

  • Assisting the public, such as completion of applications to obtain a water right or change a portion of a water right
  • Investigating complaints
  • Determining compliance with permit conditions, statutes and regulations
  • Conducting field inspections to evaluate the water right prior to certification
  • Administering available water supply, when impairment is identified
  • Monitoring water resources by routine measurement of groundwater levels
  • Protection of water released from reservoirs through water reservation rights held by the Kansas Water Office Water Assurance Districts, in the Kansas, Marais des Cygnes and the Cottonwood / Neosho River basins to provide drought protection for municipal and industrial water users downstream of participating reservoirs.

How to Contact the Topeka Field Office:

Kansas Department of Agriculture
Division of Water Resources - Topeka Field Office
Building 282, Forbes Field (office location)
PO Box 19323 (mailing address)
Topeka, KS 66619-0323

Directions: Google Maps Mapquest

Phone: (785) 862-6300
Fax: (785) 862-9110

E-mail: Katie.Tietsort@kda.ks.gov

Parsons Office is temporarily closed. 

Please direct all inquiries to the main Topeka Field Office at the phone number above.

Kansas Department of Agriculture