When the City of Hays purchased the R9 Ranch in Edwards County in 1995, the sitting mayor, Robert Albers, said turning the ranch into a municipal water source would be “a long period of transition.”
He was right. The cities of Hays and Russell have spent the 20-some years since working to end irrigated agriculture on the ranch and gather information to change the water rights located on the ranch for municipal use. In May, the cities took another step closer.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources released a draft master order approving a change-order application that would convert water use on the city-owned property from agricultural to municipal in May. The news came after a three-year wait. The cities sent in the change application in June 2015. Representatives from the cities of Hays and Russell presented the change application, which outlines the consolidation of 58 points of diversion on the R9 ranch — places where water is diverted to the surface — into 14 wells for municipal water use.
Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty stated the original change application would shift a maximum of 7,625 acre feet of water for consumptive use per year, which according to data collected on the R9, would be lower than the historic irrigation diversion of around 8,000 ac/ft.
The current application decreases the maximum allowed, per-year diversion to 6,756 ac/ft., and the cities have agreed to meet a 10-year rolling average of 4,800 ac/ft. per year — meaning the cities can divert up to the maximum amount of water in one year, but must divert less in other years to meet the rolling average.
(Read more: News – The Hutchinson News)