DWR Currents

April 6, 2010


New Arbitration Begins in Republican River Compact Disputes Over Colorado Pipeline, Nebraska Crediting Issues
Nonbinding arbitration commenced last week on two new issues associated with the Republican River Compact:

1. Colorado’s proposed compact compliance pipeline; and
2. Nebraska’s proposed water credits for monetary damages paid to an injured state.

These issues are being considered in a single proceeding.  The arbitration process commenced in March 2010 and is slated to conclude in September 2010.

Colorado’s Pipeline Proposal
Colorado officials have proposed a compliance pipeline to offset the effects of groundwater depletion on streamflows.  In June 2009, Colorado’s Republican River Water Conservation District purchased nearly 15,000 acre-feet of irrigation water rights in the North Fork Republican River basin at a reported cost of more than $40 million (more than $2,500 per acre-foot).  Under Colorado’s proposed plan, use of these water rights for irrigation would cease and water pumped under these rights would be delivered through a 12-mile pipeline to the North Fork Republican River at the Colorado-Nebraska state line.

While Colorado’s plan sounds promising, and Kansas officials are encouraged that Colorado is exploring ways to meet their legal obligations under the Compact and settlement, to date the states have been unable to agree on details of the plan.  Citing several deficiencies with the plan, including that it does not address Colorado’s obligations on the South Fork Republican River and unresolved accounting issues, both Kansas and Nebraska have voted to reject the plan.

Nebraska’s Crediting Issue
Nebraska is seeking changes in the compact accounting to provide water credits if monetary payments are made for noncompliance with the compact terms.

More information about the 2010 arbitration will be posted on DWR’s Republican River Compact webpage as it becomes available.

Arbitrator
The states selected Martha O. Pagel to serve as arbitrator in these matters.  Pagel is an attorney with extensive water law and dispute resolution expertise.  She is a principal at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt in Salem, Oregon.

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This 2010 arbitration should not be confused with nonbinding arbitration concluded during 2009 regarding Nebraska’s 2005-2006 violations of the settlement terms.  More information about the 2009 arbitration is posted on DWR’s Republican River Compact webpage.


Team Effort Helps DWR Meet Milestone for 2009 Water Use Data Entry
Each year DWR compiles data from thousands of water use reports for use in certifying water rights, conducting water right compliance and enforcement activities, and providing information for water management decisions.

A subset of this data is also exchanged with Colorado and Nebraska as required by the Republican River Compact.  Under the compact settlement terms, the three member states — Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska — are required to provide their water use data for the preceding year within the Republican River Compact model area to the other member states by April 15.  The data are used for model runs to determine whether states’ water use was within the compact allocations or exceeded those allocations.

In past years, DWR had four dedicated staff to enter this data into the Water Right Information System (WRIS) database and perform quality-control checks.  However, with budget reductions over the past couple years, there now are only two data entry staff but the same number of water use reports to process.

To complete the water use data entry for the Republican River Compact data exchange by an internal target date of April 2, DWR’s Data Management Unit requested and received generous help from several staff in KDA’s Records Center and DWR’s Water Appropriation Program, who performed water use data entry in addition to their regular responsibilities.  The effort also involved extensive work by DWR’s Water Use Unit in processing and coding the incoming water use reports prior to data entry.  In all, 11 people directly contributed to successfully meeting the target date.

The team finished processing, coding and entering data from all of the 2009 irrigation water use reports and all municipal water use reports in the Republican River basin two days earlier than scheduled.  This effort required processing, coding and entering data from some 10,175 mostly hand-written cards, many of which contained water use information for multiple files.

Thanks to everyone who stepped up to help with this effort.

The April 2 target date is important because subsequent efforts are required to fulfill Kansas’ obligation to submit water use data to the Republican River Compact Administration by April 15 each year.  After the data are entered, the Interstate Water Issues Unit has to assemble, review and submit the data in a format meeting compact reporting specifications.  This work is under way now.

While the data entry for the Republican River Compact data exchange is complete, the Water Use and Data Management units’ work is not done because there are still roughly 4,000 more water use reports to process, code and enter.  Further work will also be performed to resolve delinquent, missing, or incorrect data.  When all is said and done, DWR will have received and processed about 14,000 reports containing water use information for more than 30,000 active water rights.

Prior to 2009, the agency was developing an online water use reporting system.  Unfortunately, this initiative had to be discontinued due to budget cuts.  DWR plans to continue developing an online water use reporting system in the future when feasible.


DWR Partners With KGS in Annual Measurements of High Plains Aquifer Levels
Last week, the Kansas Geological Survey issued a news release summarizing the findings from the 2010 water level measurements in the High Plains aquifer.  DWR partners with KGS each year on this project involving water level measurements in approximately 1,400 wells in 47 western and central Kansas counties.

KGS’s news release notes higher groundwater levels in south-central Kansas compared with levels measured in 2009 and continued declines in portions of western Kansas.

The average water level decreased most in southwest Kansas, where it dropped about 1.5 feet from the previous year’s level.  Due to more favorable precipitation in the past year the average rate of decline measured in 2010 was less than the 2-foot average drop measured in 2009 and 3-foot average drop measured in 2008.


Legislative Updates
There are several items to report on:

• Regular session adjourned – The House and Senate adjourned the regular session during the early-morning hours of March 31.  The Legislature is scheduled to reconvene April 28 for the wrap-up session.

• No action on water resources bills – To our knowledge, there was no action last week on bills previously reported in DWR Currents.  The text and status of bills are available on the Kansas Legislature web site.

• Joint Committee on Rules and Regulations – On April 5, Chief Engineer David Barfield addressed the Rules and Regulations Committee in their hearing on the proposed amendment of K.A.R. 5-17-2, regarding applications to deposit a water right into a water bank or withdraw a deposit.  The public hearing on this proposed amendment is scheduled on April 21 in Topeka.

• Legislative Post Audit – The Legislative Division of Post Audit has indicated it will begin an audit titled Water-Related Agencies: Determining Whether the State Could Achieve Efficiencies and Reduce Costs by Combining the Operations of Its Water-Related Agencies.  The audit is estimated to take 18 to 22 weeks to complete.

DWR Mission, Vision and Philosophy
These days, nearly every organization has a mission statement.  Now DWR does too, along with vision and philosophy statements.

Actually, DWR has had mission and philosophy statements in the past, and the new statements are modified versions of them.

Nevertheless, management gurus stress how important it is to define an organization’s mission, values and philosophy.  They also say it is necessary to periodically reexamine an organization and strive to continually improve it.

With that in mind, and drawing inspiration from various sources, DWR has developed updated statements on what we do (mission), the big-picture objectives (vision), and how we conduct our work (philosophy).

Mission
To enhance present and future Kansans’ quality of life, economic opportunity and safety through judicious regulation of water use and watercourses, to protect the state’s interests in interstate waters, and to continuously work with partners and stakeholders to improve the management and use of the state’s water supplies.

Vision
Present and future generations of Kansans will enjoy adequate water supplies for communities, agriculture, industry, recreation and other beneficial uses.  Water resources will be managed to mitigate climate cycles of flooding and drought.  Risks to life and property will be reduced through proper design, construction, operation and maintenance of dams and other works affecting our watercourses, and by avoiding or protecting development in floodplains and breach zones.

Philosophy
We recognize that regulating the state’s water resources is a public trust.  We approach our duties with a deep sense of purpose, responsibility and stewardship.  Water users and the public at large can be assured of our balanced, sensible approach to water resources management and regulation, and that we will strive to act in accordance with the highest standards of ethics, accountability, efficiency and transparency.

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DWR’s mission, vision, and philosophy statements are posted on our website under About Us .

As indicated, it is DWR’s intention to revisit these mission, vision and philosophy statements from time to time, to check our course and make corrections, if necessary, or to change direction, if warranted.

Please feel free to offer any comments you may have about DWR’s mission, vision and philosophy statements using the agency’s online comment form or other means.


Web Updates
New content recently added to DWR’s website includes:

• PowerPoint presentations given by the chief engineer at recent meetings and conferences
• Updated streamflow maps with more distinctive and consistent visual representations of various flow rates
• Recently updated/developed mission, vision and philosophy statements
• A new perennial streamflow map based on data provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment

Upcoming Events

• April 6: Basics of National Flood Insurance Program training (Belleville)
• April 7: Public 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: Public hearing on proposed amendment to water banking regulations (Topeka)
• May 6: Substantial Damage Estimation class (Lyons)
• May 13: How to Read a Flood Map training (Bonner Springs)
• May 13-14: Kansas Water Authority meeting (Wichita)

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