DWR Currents

October 27, 2011

Educational meetings on water use with limited supplies to be held in Larned, Pratt, Garden City and Hugoton
DWR approves proposed modifications for Yankee Tank dam in Lawrence
Kansas hosts Association of Western State Engineers annual meeting
Upcoming events

Educational meetings on water use with limited supplies to be held in Larned, Pratt, Garden City and Hugoton
The Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources (DWR) and K-State Research and Extension are partnering to host four educational meetings for water right holders who have questions about water rights in drought and possible ways to manage next year’s water supply.

“Our goal is to provide information about potential solutions available for water right holders operating next year with limited water supply under emergency term permits and flex accounts,” DWR Stockton Field Office Water Commissioner Scott Ross said. “Additionally, K-State has some great tools for making decisions on how to optimize profit in in these conditions that they are going to share.”

Right:  The latest NOAA Drought Outlook indicates a high confidence in forecasting persistent and expanding drought conditions over the high plains through at least early 2012. Click to enlarge image.

Because of the severe drought, the Kansas Department of Agriculture offered water right holders two alternatives to allow for additional pumping authority in 2011, the 2011 Drought Emergency Term Permit and Multi-Year Flex Account (MYFA) Permits. The Emergency Term Permit allows water right holders to borrow from their 2012 water allocation in 2011. The MYFA allows for water right allocations to be spread out across a 5-year period. These options and how they work will be discussed in detail at the meetings. This discussion will include potential enhancements to MYFAs that the department is drafting for the consideration of the 2012 legislative session.  

DWR Water Commissioners will give a brief overview of water right law in Kansas under the Kansas Water Appropriation Act, with emphasis on what needs to be understood for next year. This will include understanding conditions of the drought term permits, water use reporting, metering, DWR’s impairment and enforcement program, changing existing water rights and more.

K-State  Water  Resources  Engineer  Norman Klocke  and  K-State  Professor  and  Extension  Agricultural  Engineer  Danny Rogers will discuss topics affecting producers’ crop and irrigation decisions including expected yield from irrigation, year-to-year yield variability and risk, profitability potential of possible crop rotations for 2012 and potential yield outcomes for 2012.

“Planning for the 2012 irrigation season should start now,” Klocke said.  “Irrigators and crop consultants need plausible strategies for crop selection and potential irrigation scheduling.  We need to consider worst case and best case precipitation expectation to make better decisions.  Our crop water allocator is a tool to find income potential from crops and the distribution of irrigation to each crop.  This computerized tool rapidly calculates income from multiple combinations of crops and irrigation strategies.”

• The Larned meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 12 noon on Nov. 15 at the Pawnee County Fairgrounds in the J.A. Haas Building, 400 E. 18th St.

• The Pratt meeting will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 15 at the Pratt Area 4-H Center, 81 Lake Road.

• The  Garden  City  meeting  will  be  from  9  a.m.  to  12  p.m.  on  Nov.  16  at  the  Southwest  Area  Extension  Office,  4500 E. Mary St.

• The Hugoton meeting will be from 2 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the Stevens County Memorial Hall, 200 E. 6th St.

All of the meetings are open to the public. There is no cost to attend and RSVPs are not being requested. For additional information, contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources field offices in Stafford at 620-234-5311, Stockton at 785-425-6787 or Garden City at 620-276-2901.


DWR approves proposed modifications for Yankee Tank Dam
Wakarusa Watershed Joint District (WJD) No. 35, Structure 24, also known as Yankee Tank Dam located in southwest Lawrence north of Clinton Parkway, had its permit for modification approved Sept. 2 by Chief Engineer David Barfield.

The permit is another milestone for WJD No. 35, which has had to coordinate studies and property easement access to obtain federal funding to rehabilitate the dam to meet high hazard standards.  

Hazard classification does not refer to the condition of the dam; rather, it reflects the potential impact on downstream properties and individuals in the event the dam should fail.  Failure of a high-hazard dam could result in extensive loss of life, damage to more than one home, damage to industrial or commercial facilities, interruption of a public utility serving a large number of customers, damage to high-volume roads or railroad lines or other severe impacts.  

Right:  Aerial view of Yankee Tank Dam in Lawrence. 

Exactly what was needed, how much it would cost and the funding source to fix the 1973-built Yankee Tank Dam remained unknown until Wakarusa WJD No. 35 applied for rehabilitation assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s  Natural  Resources  Conservation  Service.  Its  Watershed Rehabilitation Program financed a $230,000 study –  the Supplemental Watershed Plan and Environmental Assessment — for the analysis.

The study recommended raising the 44’ tall dam by 5’ and raising the auxiliary spillway crest 0.5’, extending the lowest part of the dam 60’ downstream, widening the grass auxiliary spillway by 50’, and replacing the primary spillway components. Before finalizing the study’s work plan, NRCS held a December 2010 meeting for public input regarding the projected $1.9 million repairs that will be funded by the federal government through the NRCS (65 percent) with the remainder paid by the watershed and partners.

Construction is projected to begin soon.   More information is available from the NRCS website.


Kansas hosts AWSE annual meeting
The Association of Western State Engineers was formed in 1928 and consists of the chief water administrators from the 19 western states.  Kansas Chief Engineer David Barfield served as president this year and hosted his western state counterparts in Lawrence for the association’s 84th annual meeting, Oct. 16 – 19.  The informal meeting provides a valuable opportunity for the state engineers to discuss challenges, share successful strategies and generally learn from each other.

Each year, the host state has an opportunity to share the details of the state’s water administration with the other state engineers and to provide a tour of the area. At Perry Lake, the effects of reservoir sedimentation were highlighted and the Corp of Engineers discussed the current and future operations of the project.   The Lake Lenexa Dam and outlet works in Lenexa, Kansas, showcased local innovation and support for urban watershed management.  At Water District #1 of Johnson County (WaterOne) headquarters in Lenexa, the group heard an overview of the district’s operations, challenges, and future plans and details of its increase reliance of horizontal collect wells (also used by other area water providers). Finally  engineers,  designers  and  plant  management  provided  a  tour  of  the  Bowersock Mills & Power Company in Lawrence including the North Powerhouse Project which is currently underway.

Each year’s meeting feature 3-4 “panel discussions” on topics of particular interest. This year’s panel discussions including: managing non-renewable groundwater resources, making water available for hydraulic fracturing, and reservoir sedimentation/extending design lives. The panel on hydraulic fracturing allowed state engineers from North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming to share their experiences working with the oil and gas industry and other impacts to their states from this booming industry. This was particularly timely as hyrdraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling operations are beginning to move into Kansas as well as other western states.  

The meeting also featured each state sharing a “state report,” highlighting what is going on in their state.  

Finally, in the Association’s business meeting, the group updated its constitution and passed a number of resolutions to encourage federal partners to consider state management in their laws, regulations and programs. As President, David will be sending these resolutions to the appropriate entities on behalf of the Association.  

More information on the Association of Western State Engineers can be found on its website. Past presentations are on the web site and this year’s presentations will be added in the near future.


Upcoming Events

• Nov. 3:  Northwest Kansas GMD No. 4 Board Meeting
• Nov. 8:  Equus Beds GMD No. 2 Board Meeting
• Nov. 9:  Southwest Kansas GMD No. 3 Board Meeting
• Nov. 10:  Big Bend GMD No. 5 Board Meeting
• Nov. 15:  Educational Meeting on Water Use with Limited Supplies in Larned and Pratt
• Nov. 16:  Educational Meeting on Water Use with Limited Supplies in Garden City and Hugoton
• Nov. 20:  Kansas Association of Conservation Districts Annual Convention
• Dec. 6:  Elevation Certificates and Letters of Map Amendment (Russell)
• Dec. 7:  Post Flood Responsibilities (Newton)

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