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<br />WATER DISTRICT NEWSLETTER <br /> <br />FORMERLY KNOWN AS <br />'~he Pipeline" <br /> <br />SOUTHWEST KANSAS GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT (GMD3) <br />A GOVERNING BOOY CONTROLLEO BY LOCAL PEOPLE <br /> <br />Volume 2, Issue 6 <br />EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR <br /> <br />HANK HANSEN <br /> <br />hhansen@gmd3.org <br /> <br />ASSISTANT MANAGER <br /> <br />JANET L. KING <br />jking@gmd3.org <br />CONSERVATIONIST <br />KENT SHAW <br />kshaw@gmd3.org <br />CONSERVATIONIST <br />JASON NORQUEST <br />norquest@gmd3.org <br /> <br />a <br /><::::> <br />w <br />o <br />O':l <br />~ <br /> <br />CLERK <br />SHARON SCHIFFELBEIN <br />sschiffe@gmd3.org <br />BOARD PRESIDENT <br />. BRANT PETERSON <br />Stanton County <br />VICE PRESIDENT <br />KENT DUNN <br />Seward County <br />SECRETARY <br />THOMAS O. MILLER <br />Gray County <br />TREASURER <br />MIKE O'BRATE <br />Industrial <br />BOARD MEMBERS <br /> <br />DAVID BRENN Surface <br />ARLEN EATON Ford <br />WARREN Fox Meade <br />MARLIN HEGER Stevens <br />JAY HOllTSMA Hamilton <br />DAVID LIGHT Morton <br />KIRK A. MADDUX Kearny <br />ALAN SCHWEITZER Municipal <br />CLAY SCOTT Grant <br />STEVE STONE Finney <br />PETER YORK Haskell <br /> <br />PHONE (620) 27S-7147 <br />FAX (620) 27S-1431 <br />MEETINGS: <br />2ND WED. EACH MONTH <br />9:00 A.M. - DISTRICT OFFICE <br />409 CAMPUS DR.. SUITE 106 <br />GARDEN CITY, KS 67846 <br />http://www.gmd3,org <br /> <br />December, 2002 <br /> <br />REGULATION HEARING IS DECEMBER 11, 2002 <br />During their August 14, 2002 meeting the GMD3 Board voted 8 to 5 to recommend to <br />the Chief Engineer of the Division of Water Resources (DWR) to discontinue further <br />appropriations of water for non-temporary and non-domestic use that request to <br />divert more than 15 acre-feet of water per calendar year within the boundaries of the <br />District. A hearing will be held to consider this issue as well as consider the adoption <br />of other regulations recommended by GMD3 to the Chief Engineer at 1 :00 p.m. on <br />December 11, at the Wheat Lands Convention Center, 1311 E. Fulton, Garden City, <br />Kansas. The hearing will follow the GMD3 Board meeting that begins at 9:00 a.m. at <br />the same location. The proposed regulation to be reviewed during this hearing <br />concerning this issue is K.A.R. 5-23-17. Water appropriation limits. All areas are <br />closed to further appropriations except for domestic, temporary and term <br />permits. An exemption is allowed for quantities up to 15 acre feet provided the <br />combined quantity of exemptions within a radius of '!2 mile surrounding the <br />proposed diversion does not exceed 15 acre feet. The Executive Director, Hank <br />Hansen, considers the following points to be relative to this issue. (1) Fewer wells <br />will reduce the demand on a depleting aquifer. (2) Reduction in demand for water will <br />avoid further negative impact to existing water rights, creeks, streams and rivers. (3) <br />An unprecedented decline of 15 to 24 feet in the water table that occurred from 1999 <br />through 2001 in at least 7 different regions of SW Kansas is a good reason to stop <br />installing new large capacity wells. (4) It's unwise to install more wells during a <br />prolonged severe drought that's already causing a severe decline in the water table. <br />(5) Prior Appropriation Doctrine, or '1irst in time, first in right" may be applied in times <br />of water shortages. Junior water rights are at risk of being terminated in lieu of senior <br />water rights. At least 2 significant regional impairment claims have been under <br />investigation for the last couple of years. Another third claim has recently been <br />submitted. In addition to that, two other impairment claims have been promised if <br />pending water right applications are approved that are in relative proximity to their <br />existing water rights. (6) Unknown implications of the impact of the March 2001 order <br />issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service, US Dept of the Interior, in which both the <br />Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers located in SW KS have been declared as critical <br />habitat for the "Threatened" Arkansas River Shiner. It has been suggested by the <br />FWS that human activity, such as groundwater pumping, may have to be curtailed in <br />lieu of maintaining stream flow necessary to restore this critical habitat. <br /> <br />OVER-PUMPING RESOLUTION 2002-8 WAS ADOPTED BY THE GMD3 BOARD <br />OF DIRECTORS ON NOVEMBER 13, 2002: <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the Southwest Kansas Groundwater <br />Management District agree with the following verbiage taken in part from K.S.A. 82a- <br />728: it shall be unlawful for anv person to aporooriate or threaten to appropriate water <br />from anv source without first aoolvinq for and obtaininq a permit to approoriate water <br />in accordance with the provisions of chaoter 7 of article 82a of the Kansas Statutes <br />Annotated and acts amendatory thereof or supolemental thereto or. for anv person to <br />violate any condition of a vested riqht. appropriation riqht or an aporoved application <br />for a permit to aoprooriate water for beneficial use. The board of directors further <br />agree that diverting water for non-domestic purposes in excess of the maximum <br />annual quantity authorized as a condition of a vested right, appropriation right or an <br />approved application for a permit to appropriate water for beneficial use is an <br />unlawful act and should not be allowed; and <br /> <br />Continued on Paae 2 <br />