DWR Timeline

(with selected state, national and world events for reference)

1854: Kansas territory established (included much of present-day Colorado to the Continental Divide).

1855: Irwin v. Phillips, 5 Cal. 140, decided, establishing the doctrine of prior appropriation in western water law.

1861: Kansas becomes the 34th state in the union.

1861: American Civil War begins.

1862: Homestead Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

1865: American Civil War ends.

1872: Kansas State Board of Agriculture created (K.S.A. 74-503).

1901: Kansas sues Colorado for the first time in the United States Supreme Court; further litigation ensues.

1907: Hardy Webster Campbell of Nebraska, in his 1907 Soil Culture Manual, declares that “rain follows the plow.”

1914: World War I begins.

1917: Kansas Water Commission created (precursor to Division of Water Resources).

1918: World War I ends.

1919: Division of Irrigation created (K.S.A. 74-506; precursor to Division of Water Resources).

1919: George S. Knapp appointed state irrigation commissioner (became chief engineer in 1927).

1927: Division of Water Resources created; Kansas Water Commission and Division of Irrigation abolished (K.S.A. 74-506a thru 506c).

1929: The Levee Law enacted (K.S.A. 24-126).

1929: Obstructions in Streams Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-301 thru 305a, etc).

1929: “Black Tuesday” market crash triggers the Great Depression.

1933: Dust Bowl sweeps across the Great Plains; worst environmental disaster in American history.  Hardy Webster Campbell’s 1907 pronouncement repudiated.

1935: Floods inundate the Republican River Basin throughout Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.

1939: World War II begins.

1941: Water Storage Law enacted (K.S.A. 82a-405 thru 410, etc).

1943: Republican River Compact established (K.S.A. 82a-518).

1944: In State, ex rel., v. Kansas State Board of Agriculture, 158 Kan. 603, the Kansas Supreme Court held that the 1917 statute establishing an administrative procedure for the appropriation of water was ineffectual.

1945: Kansas Water Appropriation Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-701 et seq.).

1945: World War II ends.

1947: Frank Zyback invents the center-pivot irrigation system near Strasburg, Colorado.

1949: In State ex rel. Emery v. Knapp, 167 Kan. 546, the Kansas Supreme Court holds that the Kansas Water Appropriation Act is constitutional.

1949: Arkansas River Compact established (K.S.A. 82a-520).

1951: George S. Knapp’s tenure as chief engineer ends.

1951: Robert V. Smrha appointed chief engineer.

1953: Watershed District Act enacted (K.S.A. 24-1201 thru 1237).

1955: Kansas Water Resources Board created (precursor of Kansas Water Office).

1957: Kansas Water Appropriation Act major amendments addressing water right changes, filing requirements, etc (K.S.A. 82a-701 et seq.).

1959: Vietnam War begins.

1962: In Williams v. City of Wichita, the Kansas Supreme Court holds that the Kansas Water Appropriation Act is constitutional in its regulation of groundwater water rights.

1963: State Water Plan Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-901 et seq.).

1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated.

1966: Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Compact established (K.S.A. 82a-528).

1969: Apollo 11 moon landing.

1971: Big Blue River Compact established (K.S.A. 82a-529).

1972: Groundwater Management District Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-1020 thru 1035).

1972: Robert V. Smrha’s tenure as chief engineer ends.

1972: Guy E. Gibson appointed chief engineer.

1973: Western Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 1 formed.

1974: Water Plan Storage Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-1301 thru 1320).

1975: Vietnam War ends.

1975: Equus Beds Groundwater Management District No. 2 formed.

1976: Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 3 formed.

1976: Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4 formed.

1976: Big Bend Groundwater Management District No. 5 formed.

1976: United States bicentennial.

1978: Kansas Water Appropriation Act major amendments requiring water right/permit for new water appropriations, etc (K.S.A. 82a-701 et seq.).

1978: Groundwater Management District Act major amendments adding intensive groundwater use control area provisions (K.S.A. 82a-1036 thru 1040).

1980: McPherson Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1981: Pawnee River Valley Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1981: Kansas Water Resources Board abolished, Kansas Water Office and Kansas Water Authority created.

1981: In F. Arthur Stone & Sons v. Gibson, 230 Kan. 224, the Kansas Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of K.S.A. 82a-728, which makes it unlawful to appropriate water without a permit (except for domestic uses).

1983: Water Transfer Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-1501 thru 1508).

1983: Guy E. Gibson’s tenure as chief engineer ends.

1983: David L. Pope appointed chief engineer.

1984: Burrton Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1984: Lower Smoky Hill River Valley Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1985: Hays Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1985: Kansas v. Colorado filed to enforce terms of Arkansas River Compact.

1986: Water Assurance Program Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-1330 thru 1348).

1986: Arkansas River Valley Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1988: Upper Smoky Hill River Valley Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1989: Berlin Wall falls.

1990: Persian Gulf War begins.

1991: Persian Gulf War ends.

1991: Floodplain Zoning Ordinances Law enacted (K.S.A. 12-766).

1992: Walnut Creek Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area designated.

1993: In Hellebust v. Brownback, 825 F.Supp. 1511, the Federal District Court for the State of Kansas rules that Kansas State Board of Agriculture, as elected by farm organization delegates, violates equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

1995: Kansas State Board of Agriculture abolished, Kansas Department of Agriculture created (K.S.A. 74-568).

1998: Kansas v. Nebraska & Colorado filed to enforce terms of Republican River Compact.

2001: Water Banking Act enacted (K.S.A. 82a-761 thru 773).

2001: September 11 attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon.

2001: War in Afghanistan begins.

2003: Republican River Compact Settlement adopted.

2003: Iraq War begins.

2005: Colorado pays Kansas over $34 million for Arkansas River Compact violations from 1950 through 1999.

2006: Colorado pays Kansas over $1 million in court costs for Kansas v. Colorado.

2007: David L. Pope retires, ending his tenure as chief engineer.

2007: David W. Barfield appointed chief engineer.

2007: Kansas initiates enforcement of Republican River Compact final settlement stipulation.

2009: Non-binding arbitration ends regarding Nebraska’s 2005-2006 noncompliance with the Republican River Compact final settlement stipulation.  Neither state is satisfied with the arbitrator’s decisions.

2009: Kansas v. Colorado (Arkansas River Compact enforcement) formally ends with judgment and decree, including computer model, and Colorado use rules.

2010: Kansas files suit in the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce the final settlement stipulation with regard to Nebraska’s noncompliance in 2005-2006 and to force Nebraska to take actions necessary to avoid future violations.

2010: Chief Engineer David Barfield issues the largest water right in Kansas history, 2.5 million acre-feet per year for non-consumptive, flow-through hydropower use of water for expansion of the Bowersock Mills & Power Company’s hydroelectric plant in the Kansas River at Lawrence.

More Kansas history is chronicled on Governor Brownback’s website and the Kansas Historical Society’s website.

Text of water resources statutes and regulations is available on DWR’s website and the Kansas Legislature website .

See Hall of Chiefs for more information about chief engineers of the Division of Water Resources.