DWR Currents

March 23, 2010


K-18 Highway Permits
Roadways and streams are integrally related due to their intersecting paths across the landscape,  so it’s no surprise that highway projects constitute a significant part of DWR’s work regulating construction in streams and floodplains.  Recently approved plans for Kansas Highway 18 upgrades are a case in point.

The Kansas Department of Transportation is working with the City of Ogden, the City of Manhattan, Riley County and Union Pacific Railroad to improve traffic flow along K-18 and reduce flooding issues along the current route of K-18 between Ogden and Manhattan.  In addition to K-18, the alignment of Fort Riley Boulevard (Skyway Drive), several side streets, and the Union Pacific railroad will be adjusted as part of the work.

This project includes 23 separate components that require the chief engineer’s approval under the Obstructions in Streams Act and the Levee Law.  These components include constructing 18 stream crossings, several channel alterations, and placing fill in the floodplain for berms and roadway embankments.

Right: A typical box culvert for stream crossing under a highway.

The chief engineer reviews and approves projects of this nature to protect public and private property and public safety from injury or adverse effect that might be caused by inappropriately designed or constructed projects in our streams and floodplains.

A major objective of this project is to address flooding problems in the City of Ogden.  To provide a large part of this relief, both Dry Branch and Sevenmile Creek will discharge excess flows into a new overflow channel.  Berms along Dry Branch and the overflow channel will help redirect water away from the residents of Ogden.

This project will alter the floodplain and floodway boundaries, so KDOT has obtained Conditional Letters of Map Revision from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  After completing the projects, the communities and KDOT will apply for Letters of Map Revision to show the changes to floodplain boundaries in Ogden, Manhattan and Riley County on the current flood insurance rate maps.

The project will be constructed in three phases.  The first phase will begin at Walnut Street in Ogden and end just east of Wildcat Creek Road.  Phase two will be from Wildcat Creek Road to Stagg Hill Road.  Phase three will be from Stagg Hill Road to Seth Child Road.

Plans for all three phases were approved by Chief Engineer David Barfield earlier this month.  Construction is expected to begin in 2010.


Water Flowmeter Summit
On March 9, DWR staff participated in the third annual Meter Summit hosted by Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 3.  The purpose of these annual meetings is to coordinate to ensure consistency in flowmeter compliance issues across the state.  They also give staff an opportunity to hear about emerging technologies, such as remote read and satellite telemetry meters, which are now coming into the marketplace.

Participants this year included representatives from Groundwater Management District Nos. 3, 4 and 5, Lonnie Nunenkamp of Great Plains Meter in Aurora, Nebraska, as well as Kelly Stewart of the DWR Stockton field office, Elizabeth Fitch and Cameron Conant of the DWR Stafford field office, and Mike Meyer and Mitch French from the DWR Garden City field office.

The group discussed procedures that will be used when certifying nonintrusive test meters later this spring and various compliance and enforcement issues being discovered during field inspections of flowmeter installations.

Any time a meter is installed or replaced, the owner must notify DWR by filing a report of completed installation or replacement of water flowmeter form to document the meter serial number and specifications, date installed or replaced, and the meter readings at the time of the replacement.  Documenting this information is important for proper water use reporting and for updating water right records.  DWR or the GMD inspect new and replacement meter installations to determine whether the meters are properly installed.

It is also important for water users to be very specific about the type of repairs needed when sending a meter back to the manufacturer.  The manufacturer needs to know the meter model and serial number, and whether it was rate tested inaccurate or just being sent in for general maintenance.


Legislative Updates
On March 16, Substitute for House Bill 2428 (reservoir sustainability) was introduced and recommended for approval in the House Committee on Vision 2020.  This bill would have the following effects:

• Amend K.S.A. 2-1915 of the Conservation Districts Law to allow increased funding of stream bank stabilization projects to reduce sediment loads to water supply reservoirs.
• Amend K.S.A. 82a-910 of the State Water Resource Planning Act to simplify procedures for securing storage in federal reservoirs for state water supply needs.
• Amend K.S.A. 82a-1602 through 1606 of the Multipurpose Small Lakes Program Act to facilitate renovation projects and give funding preference to projects that achieve two or more of the following purposes: flood control, public water supply, or recreation.

SHB 2428 is pending action by the full House.

On March 18, Senate Bill 574 (replenishing the interstate water litigation fund) was amended and recommended for approval in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.  The bill was then passed by the full Senate on March 22.  This bill would transfer from the state general fund into the interstate water litigation fund $2 million in fiscal year 2012 and $3 million in each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017 to use to monitor and enforce compliance with interstate water compacts and settlements, judgments and decrees. 

To our knowledge, there was no action last week on the following bills previously reported in DWR Currents:

• HSSB 316 (nonuse in closed areas)
• SB 510 (establishing conservation use as a beneficial use of water)
• SB 558 (securing interstate water litigation fund)
• HB 2283 (rural water district annexation)
• HB 2493 (dam hazard classifications and inspections)

The text and status of bills are available on the Kansas Legislature website.


Meet the Staff
In response to reader comments, about once a month we will profile a DWR employee to help explain the type of work we do.

For this inaugural “Meet the Staff” column, we interviewed Katie Tietsort, water commissioner of the Topeka field office.  Katie and her staff are responsible for inspecting water diversion works and places of use; compliance and enforcement of water appropriation permits and water rights; administering junior water rights when minimum desirable streamflows are not being satisfied; protecting certain releases from reservoirs; helping applicants and water right holders; and other duties under the Kansas Water Appropriation Act.

Katie has worked in the Division of Water Resources since 2003.

Katie, please tell us about your background.

I am originally from Fairhaven, Massachusetts.  My dad was from a small farming community in Nebraska (Madison), so I was brought up with both the city perspective and the rural perspective, since we spent our summers in Nebraska on my grandparents’ farm.  My husband worked for a nonmilitary contractor who did work on military bases, so we traveled for work, living in 11 different states in 14 years.  I attended the College of Charleston, University of Nebraska-Omaha and Kansas State University.  I received my bachelor’s degree in geology and in natural resources and environmental science.  I received my master’s degree in geology and an air quality program certificate from Kansas State University after completing thesis work related to the chemical make-up of particulates in confined animal feeding facilities (hog CAFOs).

What led you to your job in DWR?

I wanted to work in a position where I didn’t have to be away from home a lot, like consultants do, and I wanted to work with the public and work some days in the field.  I applied for an internship with DWR, which I worked while I completed my master’s program before moving into a position in the permits unit.  Later I transferred to the Topeka field office.

What was it like when you started at DWR?  What are some noticeable changes since those days?

There were quite a few more people working for the division seven or eight years ago when I started working here.  People have a lot more responsibility now—some have taken on multiple positions’ worth of work.

In your own words, describe your job.  What are some specific projects you’re working on?

My job consists of three main areas—oversight responsibility for the Kansas Water Appropriation Act in the eastern one-third of the state, managing two offices (Topeka and Parsons satellite office) including supervising and training eight staff positions, and agency/division service aspects related to inquiries by telephone, mail, email and training/meetings/presentations to customers.

Current projects we’re working on include:

• Processing proposed water right certificates
• Field inspections for water appropriation files
• Change approval compliance checks
• Compliance checks related to our five active meter orders
• Addressing meter problems involving Not-In-Compliance-Letters (NICLs) that we have issued with deadlines to come into compliance

Most days I have a stack of staff file work to review and sign off on before they are sent to headquarters for final action.

Additionally, I try to keep tabs on email inquiries relating to the following types of issues:

• Customer questions from the website links or file owner’s contacts
• Requests for help with applications or permitting questions
• Requests from the chief engineer or program manager for review of documents
• Help developing regulations
• Legislative inquiry information
• Inquiries from headquarters certificate unit, water use unit, permits unit, or Water Structures program
• Communications from staff or other water commissioners related to files, questions, or procedural items.

I work on these items each day.  Right now it is wet, so we aren’t performing any administration of water rights.

I recently started working with Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks on a large project involving review of water rights for their lakes and wetlands.  I am also working on a few particularly complicated permit issues, like the Bowersock request for a second hydropower facility on the Kansas River and how administration of this right would occur.  Each staff member is assigned a major Kansas River public water supplier to review water rights and conduct compliance investigations on their files.  As part of that, I am just beginning to review all the City of Topeka files and preparing for inspections.   I continue to work on several pending domestic applications and try to get out in the field one day a week to perform core mission work.

What is a “typical” day for you?

• I usually arrive at work around 7 a.m.  I fire up the computer and look at the USGS gage websites and Corps reservoir website while my email starts up, and then I try to respond to anything that came in the night before.
• By 7:30, other staff members are in, so when I finish with email, I am usually answering questions from work conducted the day before and reviewing files in my inbox—compliance investigations, field inspections, proposed certificates, letters being sent, compliance issues, etc.
• If I am lucky, I have an opportunity to focus an hour or two on my own file work.  I also try to visit with an individual staff member or two to familiarize myself with what they are working on and to answer questions.
• By late afternoon, I am trying to wrap up the day’s work and prepare for what is on my calendar the following day.  I usually leave around 5:30 or 6 p.m.

What do you like about your job?  What would you change if you could?

My job is fast-paced and hectic.  I never really know from one day to the next what will come up and how my work will need to be shifted to address changing priorities.  I like this aspect of my job because I enjoy being challenged.  I also find it challenging to respond to complaints or issues when individuals are upset.  There is nothing better than solving someone’s problem or helping them understand the “what and why” of our responsibilities.  I would get away from the desk and into the field more often if I could.

How often do you interact with the public and in what ways?

I interact with the public daily by telephone and email.  Weekly, I usually review specific files for owners to understand the terms of their water rights and explain to them what their rights authorize and require of them.   Monthly, I usually have either a formal meeting where I explain to a group—say a city commission or rural water board—what their rights authorize and what options they have to acquire additional water rights or to gain or stay in compliance with their rights, or meet with groups related to basin-type projects like the duck clubs and KCP&L related to water projects or concerted water use efforts.  Additionally, periodically I conduct basin meter meetings, present information to state or local groups, or attend group meetings like the water assurance district meetings to represent the agency and division and explain the law and answer specific questions.  When administration occurs, I am on the phone or in the field for hours talking to people about the situation, providing permissions to divert, or determining who may divert.  When conducting field work, I usually perform field reviews with the owners to help them understand the terms and limits of their water rights.

What are some frequently asked questions you hear and the answers to these questions?

Since I sign all the NICL letters, 365-day letters, notices of noncompliance (NONCs), and other letters and directives, I usually get calls related to out-of-compliance issues.  Probably because of all the meter orders, I am frequently asked why the division requires supplemental irrigators who haven’t irrigated in a long time (10 to 30 years) to install specific meters in a very specific way.  I explain the requirement for accurate water use measurements and, if they choose not to install the meter as required, we issue a cease diversion-NONC that prohibits them from diverting water until they get the meter issue resolved and this may affect any nonuse review under their right.

I get a lot of questions from public water suppliers that want to keep their water rights although they have connected to larger supplier and have let their water plant become decommissioned. I tell them that the division will probably consider their water right abandoned if we perform a review and if their plant is no longer considered active by Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

I receive many questions on why we set deadlines to perform rate tests to grant exceptions and respond that this is so we can resolve the compliance issue in a timely manner, regardless of whether they are currently using water under their water rights.

Do you have any humorous anecdotes about your job?

Often staff will have funny or unusual field experiences, like the time a person accidentally dropped his several-hundred-dollar Ray-Bans directly in an open test hole, or getting the truck stuck in the mud and having to ask a farmer or customer to pull us out—that happens to us all.  One staff member tries to insert a mouse in photos unobtrusively; it is funny to see when the mouse shows up.  When I first started in the field office, I didn’t know a lot of the place names or customer names, and staff used to crack up at my mispronunciations.

Anything else you’d like to say?

The most satisfying and favorite part of my job is the service part, and my best moments are when a customer or owner thanks me for helping him or her.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  Also, I have a great staff with whom I enjoy working.


Upcoming Events

• April 6: Basics of National Flood Insurance Program training (Belleville)
• April 7: Hearings on proposed amendments to water appropriation regulations (Topeka – with teleconference stations at Garden City, Halstead, Stafford and Stockton)
• April 20-23: Culvert, Drainage and Levee Maintenance workshops by Kansas University Transportation Center (Colby, Hays, McPherson and Junction City)
• April 21: Hearing on proposed water bank regulation amendment (Topeka)
• May 6: Substantial Damage Estimation class (Lyons)
• May 13: How to Read a Flood Map training (Bonner Springs)

For more information about these and other upcoming events, please check our online events listings.