By MIKE CORN
Kansas legislators received a lukewarm
reception from the state's five
groundwater management districts during a hearing on a proposal aimed at
accountability as well as confronting long-term declines in the
Ogallala Aquifer.
Only two GMDs, those based in Colby and in
Scott City, offered their support for the legislation. Two other lent
neutral testimony, while the largest in terms of both size and water use voiced
opposition.
Groundwater Management District Manager Mark Rude
appeared at Thursday's meeting of the Kansas House Water Committee to
voice his district's opposition.
He struggled to clearly lay out the district's
opposition, other than to cite the possibility of the loss of local
control as well as interference between the district and the state's
water czar — the chief engineer of the Division of Water Resources, a
part of the Kansas Department of Agriculture. Earl Lewis currently
serves as chief engineer.
Managers for both GMD No. 4, based in
Colby, and GMD No. 1, based in Scott City, offered support for the
measure, although they did ask for slight changes in how financial
information is reported.
Both districts, coincidentally, are the only
districts that have taken formal, substantive action to reduce water
use through the use of Local Enhanced Management Areas. GMD 4 has long
been home to the oft-referenced Sheridan 6 LEMA, an area in Sheridan
County that precipitated legislation permitting the creation of a LEMA.
Sheridan 6 has twice been authorized for five-year terms following its
first approval.
In its wake, the Colby District initiated the creation of a district-wide LEMA for the remainder of the GMD.
At
GMD 1, a LEMA is in place for irrigators in Wichita County, and a
formal public hearing was conducted by Lewis a week ago in Scott City
for the creation of a four-county LEMA encompassing the remainder of the
GMD, including land in Wallace, Greeley, Scott and Lane counties.
The
four-county LEMA would reduce water use by about 10 percent over the
course of five years. The Wichita County LEMA is designed to reduce
water use by about 25 percent during its five-year life.
The water
measure discussed Thursday by the Kansas Water Committee would require
GMDs by mid-2024 to submit annual reports to the Legislature and report
"conservation and stabilization plans to the chief engineer."
In the
past, there's been little variation in how water users react to
perceived inroads into how water use is monitored or supervised.
Cracks
were quick to appear Thursday, especially when Aaron Popelka, vice
president of legal and governmental affairs for the Kansas Livestock
Association, offered his group's support for the legislation.
While he acknowledged that much of the Ogallala is overappropriated, he said the KLA believes local control is best.
"While
some groundwater management districts have met their obligations under
the GMD Act by identifying areas of concern and developing conservation
strategies, others have not fully met these obligations," Popelka said.
"In fact, in some instances, certain GMDs have worked against local
conservation efforts. Such actions increase the likelihood of
intervention by the chief engineer and make locally led conservation
decisions less attainable."
He went on to suggest changes, most
significantly the idea that the state's chief engineer would not have
the authority to identify areas of concern or designation an action plan
unless a GMD fails to do so.
"If we want locally led conservation
efforts, the GMDs must have some ability to determine those plans,"
Popelka said. "Instead, we suggest the chief engineer’s review be
limited to ensuring the plan is reasonable and compatible with the
Kansas Water Appropriation Act."
The committee is expected to take up the bill again when it meets next week.
