Rattlesnake Creek Subbasin Management Strategies
Rattlesnake Recommended Management Strategies
ADDENDUM: Four-Year Review of Management Plan
In 1993, residents of the Rattlesnake Creek Subbasin (subbasin) area and government agencies formed the Rattlesnake Creek/Quivira Partnership (Partnership) to cooperatively develop and implement solutions to water resource problems within the subbasin. It was agreed that the partners would use a community involvement approach with water conservation as the guiding principle to address water related concerns in the subbasin. This would be accomplished through a joint effort which recognized the different obligations, duties, responsibilities and roles that each partner has outside the Partnership. The Partnership - Big Bend Groundwater Management District No. 5 (GMD #5), Water Protection Association of Central Kansas (Water PACK), Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources (DWR), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) - signed a Cooperative Agreement to this effect in June 1994.
Since its inception, the Partnership has evolved into a functional working group that has a thorough understanding of the hydrologic conditions of the subbasin. An established, trustful working relationship between the resident water users and government agencies has made this group extremely effective. As a result of this effort, the Partnership has developed a Rattlesnake Creek Management Program (program) which suggests a pro-active approach to maintain sustainable water supplies in the subbasin.
The implementation of the program will not be a "quick fix" solution to the water resources problems in the subbasin. The type of management program the Partnership has proposed is intended to address the long term sustainability of the water resources in the subbasin. However, the management strategies proposed should address the water resources issues for both the short and long term. The program was developed in this way to allow for management alternatives that may take a few years to show measurable effects to have time to get up and running. This is necessary because the main methods of reducing water use are mainly incentive-based programs which would need to be incorporated into water users' existing operations. Therefore, the success of these management alternatives and their degree of effectiveness depends greatly upon the participation of the water users in the subbasin. Active participation by water users in the new management program is one of the main objectives of the Partnership and is especially important during implementation. The Partnership has concentrated its efforts on a voluntary approach for lowering the total water use in the subbasin. This will occur through the use of the new management alternatives, an information/education program implemented simultaneously, and an enhanced compliance and enforcement effort. The primary mechanism to reach the goals of the management program is to reduce the total amount of water used in the subbasin through these methods, especially in those areas identified as priority areas. This design should result in the stabilization and reversal of the declining groundwater trends and enhanced streamflows.
Rattlesnake Creek Priority Areas
