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Page 1 of 2 <br />< return._to..origin�l.page <br />THE HUTCHINSONNEWS <br />online adition <br />State one step closer to owning Circle K <br />By Amy Bickel <br />NEWTON - The proposed purchase of a 7,000 -acre Edwards County ranch by the state as part of a <br />solution to local water woes has made it through another stage. <br />After public comment and discussion from its members, a Kansas Water Authority committee voted <br />Tuesday to recommend that the full Water Authority approve the state acquiring the Circle K Ranch. <br />"This really is the first step we could possible take in resolving water issues out there," said Jerry <br />Blain, a water authority member who also serves on the Equus Beds Groundwater Management <br />District board. <br />Tuesday's unanimous vote and not much negative talk from board members makes it likely the full <br />authority will recommend the proposal to the governor and Kansas Legislature when it meets <br />Thursday, said Susan Stover, an environmental scientist with the Kansas Water Office. <br />The recommendation from Stover and other staff is for the state to purchase the ranch from the cities <br />of Hays and Russell and retire all water rights by 2015 - except for 200 acre -feet to be used for <br />irrigating wildlife food plots. <br />Hays bought the land for $4.2 million in 1995 as a possible solution for municipal water issues. <br />Appraisers recently valued the land at about a million less than the purchase price. <br />The state's purchase of the Circle K has been a heated debate for more than a year. The state is <br />interested in the land as an effort to stabilize groundwater levels in the area and help the Arkansas <br />River flow again from Kinsley to Great Bend. <br />The ranch has 57 irrigation wells, many within a few miles of the Arkansas River. If purchased, <br />retiring the ranch's 8,000 acre -feet of water rights only would be one part of the solution to water <br />problems in the Middle Arkansas River - a region state officials say is over - appropriated and needs a <br />41,000- acre -foot reduction of annual water usage. <br />If not improved voluntary or through incentive programs, mandatory reductions would be <br />implemented, Stover said. <br />"This gives us a unique opportunity to do it without regulation - all from a willing seller," said <br />former Gov. Mike Hayden, now Kansas Wildlife and Parks secretary, who wants to turn the land <br />into a wildlife haven. <br />http: / /www.dailynews. net/ hutchinson /cgi- bin/printerpage.pl 8/26/2004 <br />