By James Hoyt

KU Statehouse Wire Service

 

TOPEKA – The House agriculture committee on Monday passed a bill that would institute stiffer penalties for water rights owners who don’t file their annual usage reports on time.

Senate Bill 337 would levy a $250 civil penalty for failure to report one year of water usage by the March 1 deadline. Failure to report two consecutive years could result in a fine up to $1,000. Repeat offenses could result in a water usage suspension. The bill applies to owners of water rights for agricultural, industrial or municipal use.

The current version of SB 337 is a substitute bill incorporating language from House Bill 2491, which includes a provision that allowed the state’s chief engineer to use telemetry to monitor and enforce water usage in real time.

Rep. Shannon Francis, R–Liberal, voiced concern that the Department of Agriculture wouldn’t have the will to shut off water access to a city or to industry centers.

“We definitely have the will to do that,” Lane Letourneau, water appropriation program manager for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said in testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

A number of agricultural trade associations and governmental entities lined up to voice support for the bill in written testimony.
“We think the timely filing of water use reports is important in tracking whether or not right holders are using water within the confines of their permitted allocation,” Leslie Kaufman, CEO of the Kansas Cooperative Council, said.

Letourneau said the vast majority of Kansas water rights holders submit their reports on time, but at the moment, the KDA doesn’t have the authority to levy a fine higher than $250 or suspend users’ rights. Letourneau said 94 percent of water users submit reports on time, while an average of 60 individuals don’t submit their reports by June 1. Of users who don’t submit reports at all, approximately 10 are repeat offenders. Letourneau said the offenders are often municipalities and feed yards.

“There is concern that some water users decide to pay the annual penalty fee rather than submit the water use report,” Letourneau said.

Water usage management is a constant concern in western areas of Kansas where the Ogallala Aquifer provides water for irrigation and municipal use. The Southwest Farm Press, a news source for agriculture in southwestern states, reported the aquifer’s levels had dropped 8 percent from the beginning of the aquifer’s industrial development.

 

Edited by Leah Sitz