DWR Currents

May 10, 2010


Kansas Files Lawsuit Over Nebraska’s Violations of Republican River Compact
In 1998, Kansas filed suit against the Nebraska alleging it had violated the Republican River Compact of 1943.  A final settlement stipulation was signed by Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado in 2002 and approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 as resolution of Kansas’ suit.  The settlement details the obligations of the states under the compact.

The first test of compliance under the settlement was for years 2005 and 2006.  During those two years, Nebraska used 70,000 acre-feet to 80,000 acre-feet more Republican River water than it was entitled to — enough water to supply a city of 100,000 residents for about 10 years.

Nebraska’s overuse meant drastically less water was available for Kansans.  To make matters worse, this occurred during a drought.

Since Nebraska’s violation was quantified in 2007, Chief Engineer David Barfield and our interstate water issues team, working with the Kansas Attorney General’s office, has been seeking restitution and action to ensure future compliance, first through the Republican River Compact Administration and then nonbinding arbitration.  While Nebraska agrees that it failed this test of compliance, it is unwilling to fairly compensate Kansas for its injury and, more importantly, is not taking actions necessary to achieve future compliance.

Now, having exhausted all other options, Kansas is taking its case to the highest court in the land.

On May 3, Kansas Attorney General Steve Six filed suit in the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce the final settlement stipulation.

Right: An image of the cover of Kansas’ 142-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kansas’ pleading states that:

• Nebraska has violated a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decree.
• Nebraska exceeded its compact allocation by 78,960 acre-feet for the years 2005 and 2006, depriving Kansas of its rightful share of Republican River water.
• Nebraska’s current approach for achieving compliance is inadequate; Nebraska must face and address the effects of its decades of overdevelopment and must make significant reductions in its use.

Kansas asks the court to find Nebraska in contempt of its 2003 decree; to require Nebraska to take actions necessary to prevent further violations; to compensate Kansas for its injury suffered in 2005 and 2006; and to appoint a river master to monitor and ensure Nebraska’s future compliance.

“Our state’s actions in this matter are, and always have been, to ensure that we get the water we are due under the compact and settlement,” Barfield said. “We’re not trying to be litigious; we just want Nebraska to be fair.”

For more information, including the full text of Kansas’ pleadings to the U.S. Supreme Court, see our Republican River Compact web page.


Water Permits Approved for Wholesale District in Douglas County
On May 3, Chief Engineer David Barfield approved three new water appropriation permits for Public Wholesale Water Supply District No. 25.  The permits authorize withdrawals from the Kansas River alluvium at a rate of up to 800 gallons per minute and a combined authorized quantity up to 676 million gallons per year (2,074 acre-feet per year).

This is projected to be sufficient for PWWSD 25 to supply Douglas County Rural Water District Nos. 2 and 5, and Osage County Rural Water District No. 5 for the next 40 years, or through 2051.

PWWSD 25 will pump from well batteries to be located between Lawrence and Eudora.  Since the area is fully appropriated, these wells will be supported by releases of stored water controlled by the Kansas River Water Assurance District to recharge the alluvium as necessary.

This is particularly newsworthy due to the attention the district attracted a few years ago for its attempt to drill test wells on a farmer’s property.  That led to a lawsuit over the district’s use of condemnation to acquire an easement to drill test wells.  The case went all the way to the Kansas Supreme Court, which in 2009 upheld the district court’s decision to dismiss the case.

In 2008, while the lawsuit was ongoing, the Kansas Legislature passed a law prohibiting the chief engineer from issuing a permit to appropriate water to any public wholesale water supply district in Douglas County before June 30, 2010, if the district acquired legal access to the proposed point of diversion through involuntary means.  However, the permits granted last week are for a different location within the Kansas River alluvium where the district acquired legal access by voluntary means.


Corps Drops John Redmond Lake Level During Repairs
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has had to lower the lake level at John Redmond Reservoir to repair and paint the Tainter gates that control the flow of water out of the lake.

John Redmond Reservoir is located on the Neosho River above Burlington in Coffey County.  In addition to providing flood protection, public water supplies and recreation, John Redmond is a source of cooling water for Kansas’ only nuclear reactor, Wolf Creek Generating Station, near Burlington.  Along with Council Grove Lake and Marion Lake, John Redmond is one of three reservoirs providing storage for the Cottonwood/Neosho River Water Assurance District that serves a number of municipal and industrial customers.

The Corps has been operating the lake 1 to 2 feet below the top of normal pool to perform maintenance and repair work on the gates.  Bulkheads have been constructed to allow dewatering above each gate being repaired.  The bulkheads must be in place while the Corps repairs each gate, and the water level must be low enough to provide sufficient freeboard.  Wind causes significant wave action at John Redmond, and the bulkheads do not provide enough freeboard at normal pool (1,039 feet).

Right: Downstream side of the spillway at John Redmond Reservoir in 2008.  It is equipped with 14 40-feet-wide by 35-feet-high Tainter gates.  The spillway capacity is 578,000 cubic feet per second at top of flood pool elevation with the gates fully open.

Two weeks ago, extreme wind and wave action broke one of the bulkheads loose.  It sank to the lake bottom and was leaning against the piers.  Subsequently, engineers conducted inspections and assessed the damages.  To provide safe working conditions, and to fully inspect, recover and repair the bulkhead, they needed to lower the lake level to an elevation of 1,035.5 feet.

This resulted in the release of an additional 15,000 acre-feet of water last week.  Less than half the volume of the normal pool remains filled at this level, yet there is still sufficient water remaining in the lake for its use to continue during the gate repairs.

Due to the short time frame for the repairs, and the likelihood of adequate precipitation to refill the lake before the end of the month, water supply problems are not anticipated.  However, DWR and a number of other agencies and water users are closely monitoring the situation.

Inflows in May are typically more than sufficient to refill the vacated storage.  There were 105,000 acre-feet of inflow in May 2006 and 344,000 acre-feet of inflow in May 2009.

On the morning of May 10, the bulkhead was successfully removed from the lake.  It was loaded onto a trailer and will be cleaned and inspected.

The Corps has closed the Tainter gates and plans to refill the lake to elevation 1,037.6, which will leave sufficient freeboard for the remaining gate repairs and maintenance.  This is especially timely given the forecast for rain today.

More information about John Redmond Reservoir is available from the Corps of Engineers and Kansas Biological Survey.


Staff News: Cindy Higgins
Cindy Higgins joined DWR’s Dam Safety Team on May 3 as the Information and Education Coordinator funded through a FEMA grant to enhance the state’s dam safety program.

Besides developing educational and informational materials about dam permitting requirements, she also will organize and participate in various presentations and seminars we provide throughout the year, as well as DWR’s annual dam safety conference.

In addition, Higgins will help engineers review emergency action plans (EAPs) required for high- and significant-hazard dams and help dam owners prepare EAPs.

Higgins comes to us from the Kansas Historical Society where she organized events and developed training materials at the Fairway, Kansas, site.  Previously, she did similar work at universities and news organizations in the area.


Upcoming Events

• May 13: How to Read a Flood Map training (Bonner Springs)
• May 13-14: Kansas Water Authority meeting (Wichita)
• May 19: Big Blue River Compact Annual Meeting (Beatrice, Nebraska)
• May 27: REAP Regional Water Conference (El Dorado)

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