City manager: ‘Quivira water impairment claim should have little effect on R9’

The Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Water Resources (KDA-DWR) will host two public meetings on Monday, October 21, 2019, to share information related to upcoming action responding to the impairment complaint by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

Water rights owners in the area were sent notice this week of the KDA-DWR plan to regulate water rights. The meetings will review the anticipated regulation and the ongoing work with local stakeholders to develop a Water Conservation Area (WCA) that will provide flexibility in use for those regulated water rights.

Groundwater Management District 5 and the R9 Ranch in Edwards County (owned by the cities of Hays and Russell as a long-term water supply) are included in Zone A.

(Read more: Hays Post)