Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty expects to see more progress the end of August in the city’s decades-long effort to ease its water shortage by drawing groundwater from its R9 ranch in Edwards County.
That’s when the Kansas Division of Water Resources is expected to make official the city’s application to use the water for municipal purposes instead of its current use for crop irrigation.
The move is one tiny, but critical, baby step in the lengthy process for Hays and the city of Russell to win state approval to use the water from land Hays purchased in 1994 for the water rights. Once the application is official, it goes before a three-person panel to hold public hearings and decide whether to approve the change. How long that process takes is anybody’s guess since Hays and Russell are the first to apply under the state’s Water Transfer Act.
“We don’t know,” Dougherty said. “It’s never been tested. …but we’ve estimated maybe 14 to 24 months.”
The act is a series of statutes that kick in to regulate the transfer of water when it involves more than 2,000 acre feet over more than 35 miles. The Hays-Russell application covers 4,800-acre feet of water over 67 miles.
(Read more: News – The Hays Daily News)