DWR Currents

June 29, 2010


DWR Inspects Colorado’s Compliance with Arkansas River Compact
Division of Water Resources staff monitor Colorado’s compliance with the Arkansas River Compact in many different ways.  One way is by reviewing the tracts that Colorado chooses to “dry up” by discontinuing surface water irrigation.

A U.S. Supreme Court decree entered in the Kansas v. Colorado litigation authorizes the use of dry-up tracts to offset groundwater pumping by Colorado water users that would reduce Arkansas River flows to Kansas.  Colorado has the potential to irrigate more than 300,000 acres with surface water and groundwater between Pueblo, Colorado, and the Colorado-Kansas state line.
Above: Composite satellite image of irrigated lands along the Arkansas River in Colorado (click to enlarge).

Every year – in early summer and again in the fall, if possible – DWR staff travel through the Arkansas River basin in Colorado to inspect those lands that are being claimed for dry-up credit.  And, each year, Kansas successfully disqualifies a number of Colorado’s claimed dry-up acres.  If Colorado takes credit for dry-up acres that are not actually dried up, that credit essentially translates into water that should have been available to Kansas but was not.

Last week, Kevin Salter and Chelsea Juricek of DWR inspected the Colorado dry-up tracts from the Kansas-Colorado state line to Pueblo, Colorado.  Together with Colorado Division of Water Resources staff, they inspected nearly 15,000 acres, representing approximately 460 tracts (fields).  Kansas DWR staff will review the collected data for problem tracts that either will be disqualified or that warrant follow-up visits to ensure they meet the dry-up requirements of the decree.

Along with the dry-up tracts, DWR staff also documented the status of irrigated tracts, including identifying tracts that appear to be irrigated but are not currently classified as irrigated in the compact compliance model.

DWR’s Arkansas River Compact website provides more information about this essential and renewable source of surface water for southwest Kansas.


HorseThief Reservoir Filling Faster Than Expected
Less than a year after the dam was completed, the largest reservoir in southwest Kansas is about half full and ready for recreation seekers.

Officials had previously estimated it would take several years to fill HorseThief Reservoir but, due to favorable precipitation, its filling is ahead of schedule.

HorseThief is located eight miles west of Jetmore, in Hodgeman County.  The reservoir is formed by a large dam across Buckner Creek.  The dam is more than a mile long and up to 90 feet high.

Right: Aerial view of HorseThief Reservoir during October 2009 (photo by Leonard Bristow, DWR).

Data from the U.S. Geological Survey showed the lake level at elevation 2,412.5 feet as of Monday morning, June 28.  Based on the reservoir design plans, this means the reservoir is currently storing water up to 43 feet deep and is covering more than 200 acres of surface area.  At this level, the lake is at the low end of the “recreation pool.”  When the recreation pool is full, the lake will be up to 54 feet deep and cover more than 480 acres.

Last weekend officials opened the lake to public access for picnicking, swimming, fishing and boating.  Other recreational opportunities at HorseThief Reservoir, including campgrounds, are expected to open later in the summer or fall.

DWR has been involved with HorseThief Reservoir for a number of years.  The agency issued a water appropriation permit for the reservoir and approved the dam that forms it.  DWR staff inspected the dam on several occasions during construction.

This spring, DWR worked with Pawnee Watershed District to update the reservoir operations plan.  Updates included an adjusted release schedule due to an upstream gage being inundated when the lake level is high.  DWR staff based in Stafford are responsible for checking whether the district is following the operations plan.

In order to make it easier for staff to monitor conditions at the reservoir – and recognizing substantial public interest in this new water body in the dry region of southwest Kansas – DWR staff recently created a new, one-stop website.  DWR’s HorseThief Reservoir website contains photographs, links to the operations plan, USGS stage and streamflow measurement sites on Buckner Creek and a history of the project’s permitting through our office.  It also has a link to the official HorseThief Reservoir website managed by local government.  


Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Parts of Kansas
Over the past two weeks, Kansas received from one-half inch to 10 inches of rain.  Most of the heaviest rainfall occurred over north-central and northeast Kansas, which experienced up to six times the normal precipitation for a two-week period during this time of year.

Right: Graphic showing 14-day measured precipitation over Kansas as of June 25 (courtesy of National Weather Service).  

Not surprisingly, the heavy rains caused flooding in some areas.  The Republican River was one of the most notable locations.  The normal flow at Clay Center this time of year is around 1,000 cubic feet per second. However, last week, on June 22, the daily mean flow rose to more than 22,000 cfs – 22 times greater than the normal flow.  The stream level rose about six feet above flood stage.  Yet this was well below the peak recorded streamflow of 195,000 cfs at this location during the flood of 1935, before flood control reservoirs were constructed upstream.

The effect in the Solomon River at Woodston was also dramatic.  Normally flowing at about 10 cfs this time of year, last week the rain-swelled river increased to 4,000 cfs – 400 times greater than the normal flow.  The river rose 12 feet within a few hours on June 20, to six feet over flood stage.  But it was short-lived.  Flows decreased to 200 cfs by last Friday and the stage returned to normal.  This brief flood event was less than the record streamflow of 8,710 cfs at this location in 1993.

Right: Streamgage records showing flow in the Solomon River at Woodston during the week of June 21 (image courtesy of USGS; click to enlarge).

As of Friday afternoon, June 25, three USGS streamgages were still registering flooding in Kansas: Republican River at Clay Center (two feet above flood stage); Big Blue River at Blue Rapids (1.5 feet above flood stage); and Missouri River at St. Joseph, Missouri (opposite Elwood, Kansas, nine feet above flood stage).  The first two locations had dropped below flood stage within a day, and by Monday, June 28, the Missouri River had dropped from moderate to minor flood stage.

Data from all 182 streamgages within or along the borders of Kansas are available on the USGS Kansas Water Science Center’s website.

Right: Missouri River floodwaters overtopping K-7 Highway near White Cloud on June 25 (photo courtesy of Ken Kopp, DWR). 

To learn how you and your community can become more flood-ready, visit DWR’s Floodplain Management website.


Upcoming Events

• June 30: Small Dam Owners Seminar (Garnett)
• July 1: GMD 4 Board Meeting (Colby)
• July 8: GMD 5 Budget Hearing and Board Meeting (Stafford)
• July 13: GMD 2 Board Meeting (Halstead)
• July 14: Basics of National Flood Insurance Program (Arkansas City)
• July 14: GMD 3 Board Meeting (Garden City)
• July 20: GMD 1 Board Meeting (Scott City)
• July 21: Small Dam Owners Seminar (Olathe)

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