The Garden City Telegram
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Money to help conservation efforts
Published 8/26/2008 in News : Area coverage
By STEPHANIE FARLEYsfarley@gctelegram.com
More than 20 years after Kansas filed suit against Colorado for violations of the Kansas-Colorado Arkansas River Compact, those affected by the violations are seeing some of the compensation return to the area.
State legislators and area water officials and representatives gathered Monday to announce a $9.8 million grant for water conservation and water use efficiency projects in portions of the Upper Arkansas River Basin. The funding is a portion of the remaining payment from Colorado to Kansas after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that Colorado violated the compact by taking more water than it was entitled to and owed damages to Kansas.
Kansas Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, called it a “red letter day” for southwest Kansas. Morris listed off the money’s history to the group gathered Monday, starting with Kansas filing suit in 1985 against Colorado and spending millions of dollars and years trying to recover damages for the violations. After the ruling, those involved knew it’d be years before the state saw any money from Colorado, Morris said, so in 1996, legislators, including House Rep. Carl Holmes, R-Liberal, who authored the plan, passed legislation creating a “blueprint” of how the money would be used.
A portion went to the ditch irrigation companies that helped cover some of the costs of the lawsuit; another portion went into a litigation fund that’s helped with other state water cases, including one with Nebraska; and of the remaining portion, a third went to the state’s water plan and two-thirds to the area directly affected by the violations. Those affected could hold their portion Monday in the form of a check for $9.8 million, which will be overseen by, among others, Groundwater Management District No. 3.
Legislation helped along by Rep. Larry Powell, R-Garden City, and passed this year provides the framework for the grant to the management district, including creating a local advisory committee that will help administer the funds and implement projects currently being developed.
Morris said Powell’s and Holmes’ legislation helped ensure local control of the funding rather than being up for grabs by the state to use for other projects.
“$9.8 million is a lot of money,” Morris said, inviting anyone to come up and view the check.
David Brenn, David Barfield and Randy Hayzlett serve as the three compact commissioners, and Brenn called the funding “a remarkable event.”
“It’s not over folks...,” Brenn said, explaining Colorado still is consuming any water it can. “For me, I’m proud to be a Kansan today.”
Holmes has completed about 24 years in the Legislature and said he was concerned in 1996 that any money coming from Colorado could be used by the state for other purposes. He authored the legislation to ensure the money would go toward, among other things, water projects and litigation. The legislation didn’t have a smooth ride, he said, with it passing at the end of the session.
“We need to act instead of react,” he said of government, adding the legislation decided how the money would be spent before the state knew how much it was getting.
Holmes sat in the Supreme Court chamber when the case was argued and said it’s frustrating it has taken more than 20 years before a check was cut to the affected area, but “exciting” at the same time.
According to the state, the Kansas Water Office, Kansas Department of Agriculture-Division of Water Resources, Groundwater Management District and ditch irrigation entities have worked for about two years to identify projects to be funded by the grant to improve the delivery of compact water, increase efficiency of existing irrigation infrastructure and enhance storage capacity to use excess river flows and create opportunities for aquifer recharge. The projects are set to be in Finney and Kearny counties.
Hayzlett has more than 30 years experience with ditch and other irrigation, staying involved with the lawsuit as compact commissioner.
“We followed the lawsuit close,” he said.
After they knew Kansas would receive funds from Colorado, the Arkansas River Litigation Funds Committee was formed, which Hayzlett chairs. The committee helped identify the projects being considered for funding, and Hayzlett said feasibility studies are complete for the south-side ditch alternate delivery system and Lake McKinney improvement projects. He said they’re almost done with a study on the aquifer recharge project.
According to Tracy Streeter, director for the Kansas Water Office, the alternate delivery system would modify the south-side ditch, extending it and re-routing water. The Lake McKinney project is looking at expanding the lake and diverting water around the lake instead of through it. And a third project would take excess water and help recharge the aquifer.
But project costs are rising daily, he said, adding the grant will help cover some of the increase through drawing interest off the $9.8 million that’s now being overseen locally.
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