20 June 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The cities of Hays and Russell have a plan to keep water running for another 75 years. But it calls for taking water from land 70 miles away in Edwards County. People for and against the plan can comment Tuesday night in Hays.
The Hays and Russell plan
Hays and Russell city leaders have been concerned for decades about having a sustainable water supply for more than 25,000 people in the towns. The cities say they are too far east to tap into the Ogallala Aquifer and too far west to rely on surface water.
In 1995, Hays bought the R9 Ranch in southwest Edwards County for more than $4 million. A year later, Russell purchased an 18% stake. The value for the towns is that R9 Ranch includes 7,647 acre-feet of irrigation water rights. That is about 2.5 billion gallons of water.
Over the years, Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty says the two towns have explored other water options than using those water rights. But he says those alternatives were not workable.
So, in 2015, the towns applied to the state to change the R9 Ranch water rights from irrigation to municipal use. And in 2016, they applied for the right to transfer water from the ranch to Hays and Russell.
“There’s a series of statutes referred to as the Water Transfer Act that govern movement of water in excess of 2,000 acre-feet annually more than 35 miles,” Dougherty said. “The property we own in Edwards County is approx 75 miles south of Hays and Russell, and so the statutes kick in, and there is a procedure under the Kansas Administrative Procedures Act that is followed to make sure that Hays and Russell are meeting all of the statutory criteria.”
He said there are a lot of criteria in the application process, but it boils down to Hays, and Russell must prove it is in the state’s best interest.
“Essentially, the state has to be better off by allowing Hays and Russell to move the water than by not allowing Hays and Russell to move the water,” Dougherty said.
Opposition
Edwards County and the Water Protection Association of Central Kansas (Water PACK) are fighting the water transfer. Water PACK is a trade association whose members hold water rights surrounding the R9 Ranch.
“The association’s mission is to conserve and protect water rights while balancing the public interest with private property rights,” said Chuck Lee, an attorney with Lee Schwalb LLC, the law firm representing Edwards County and Water PACK.
In the application, Hays and Russell applied for the right to pump 6,756 acre-feet of water north to their towns annually. Lee says his clients say that is too much water.
The Hays city manager says Hays and Russell have already agreed to reduce their usage.
“We agreed to limit our water rights to sustainable usage, and again that’s an extraordinary concession,” Dougherty said. “What we agreed to is … 4,800 acre-feet on an average annual basis. We want to be good stewards of the property. We want to utilize the water in a sustainable manner.”
But Lee says the 4,800 is a rolling average.
“Under the imposed limitation, the cities are limited to that withdrawal, on average, over a period of 10 years,” he said. “They are allowed to withdraw more in a given year provided that, over time, they do not exceed the average.”
Lee said Edwards County and Water PACK believe that even the 4,800 acre-feet transfer remains well above the amount that experts consider sustainable.
Lee also said the citizens of Hays and Russell might be shocked by what pumping the water north could cost them on their water bills.
Dougherty admitted that the projected cost has grown in the past four to five years from a $75- to $80-million project to an estimated $130 million.
Seeking public comment
The decision will come down to a panel of three state officials who make up the Water Transfer Hearing Panel.
The Hays and Russell application is to the point where the panel wants to hear public comment.
On Tuesday, June 20, there will be a public comment hearing from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. It will be at the Fort Hays State University in the Union’s Black and Gold Room.
“The statutes call for a public comment hearing in the ‘basin of destination,’ so that’s what is happening tomorrow night,” Dougherty said.
He said Hays and Russell would provide a brief presentation on what they’re doing and why.
Attorneys from Lee Schwalb LLC will also be at the meeting for their clients, Water Pack and Edwards County.
Dougherty said the hearing would not be a debate or a time for questions.
“It is literally a public hearing where people have the ability to go on record, and all comments at the hearing will become part of the public record,” he said.
If you would rather submit your comment in writing, you can mail it to:
Water Transfer Hearing Panel
c/o Chief Engineer — Division of Water Resources
Kansas Department of Agriculture
1320 Research Park Dr.
Manhattan, KS, 66502
The deadline to submit written comments is June 26.