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November 22, 2022 - The Chief Engineer issued an Order of Decision and Designation approving the Northwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 4 (GMD4) Management Plan for the GMD4 Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA). The GMD4 LEMA will remain in place for another five years, from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2027.
GMD4 requested the renewal of the GMD4 LEMA. The chief engineer held a public hearing to determine whether the LEMA should be renewed as proposed. The hearing was held at 10:00 a.m. on July 27, 2022 at the City Limits Convention Center, 2227 S. Range Avenue, Colby, Kansas. Further details can be found in the notice of hearing and in the pre-hearing order.
On October 15, 2019, the Gove County District Court upheld the Chief Engineer's GMD 4 LEMA decision in Friesen vs. Barfield. For more, see KDA's press release and KDA-DWR's update page.
On December 26, 2018, the Thomas County District Court dismissed Woofter v. KDA, which sought review of the LEMA order and descriptions related to setting allocations for particular plaintiffs within the LEMA area.
On June 13 2018, a petition for judicial review and a notice disputing the validity of the LEMA were filed in Gove County District Court to challenge the LEMA orders and the validity of K.S.A. 82a-1041 (the LEMA statutory provisions).
On Friday, April 13, 2018, the Chief Engineer issued his Order of Designation regarding the GMD No. 4 District-Wide LEMA.
On Thursday, March 8 2018, the Chief Engineer issued an order accepting the GMD's modified LEMA plan.
On March 1, 2018, the GMD accepted the Chief Engineer's proposed changes to the LEMA listed in his February 23rd Order of Decision, and transmitted a GMD modified LEMA plan with the proposed modifications listed on the Chief Engineer's order which included modifications to the original LEMA plan based on the evidence presented at the hearings:
- The GMD could accept the changes, in which case an order of designation, which is the final order for the LEMA, would be issued. If the GMD did not accept the changes, there would be no LEMA.
- The proposed modifications are listed on page 26 of the order.
- The GMD had requested the first two modifications, principally affecting non-irrigation uses.
- The principal modification recommended is adjusting the LEMA boundary to exclude the townships with little or no decline in water level (those shown in shown in blue and green on Attachment 1 to the GMD’s LEMA plan, the map shows proposed allocations by township).
- The remainder of the proposed modifications:
- represent relatively small amounts of water but are necessary to be equitable in the treatment of certain classes of water rights (those with places of use in different allocation zones, those who have not completed their time to perfect and those who may wish to lawfully expand their place of use).
- improve the appeal process to ensure past conservation is sufficiently considered and that everyone understands the basis of their allocations.
- requires the advisory committee to track allocation changes and to look at the issue of improving water level change data for purpose of future management
On February 23, 2018 the LEMA Order of Decision with Proposed Modifications was issued
On November 14, 2017 the second hearing was held.
On October 2, 2017 the Notice of second hearing was issued.
On September 23, 2017 an order containing the findings from the first hearing was issued.
On August 23, 2017 the initial hearing was held.
On July 12, 2017 notice of the initial hearing was issued.
On June 27, 2017 DWR notified GMD No. 4 that the LEMA proposal was found acceptable for consideration.
On June 8, 2017 GMD No. 4 submitted a proposal for a District-Wide LEMA.
Individual allocations can be looked up through the Water Right Allocation Lookup.
2023 - 2027 LEMA Documents
| Document | Document Date | Provided by |
|---|---|---|
| Transcript of Hearing | 07/27/2022 | Reporter |
| Request to Renew and Management Plan | 02/16/2022 | GMD4 |
Written Testimony for 2023 - 2027 LEMA Hearings
| Document | Document Date | Provided by |
|---|---|---|
| Max E. Mann | 08/01/2022 | Mann |
| GMD No. 4 | 07/24/2022 | GMD4 |
| Kelly Stewart | 07/22/2022 | DWR |
LEMA Documents
Woofter vs. McClaskey
| Document | Document Date | Provided by |
|---|---|---|
| Order Granting Motion to Dismiss | 12/27/2018 | Thomas Co. District Court |
| Petition for Judicial Review | 06/26/2018 | Ronald Shalz |
| Petition for Judicial Review Exhibits | 06/26/2018 | Ronald Shalz |
Friesen vs. Barfield
Procedural and Administrative Matters
Submitted written testimony for second hearing
Submitted Written Testimony for Initial Hearing
| Provided by | Document Date | Date Posted |
|---|---|---|
| GMD No. 4 | 8/23/2017 | 8/28/2017 |
| Kansas Geological Survey | 8/23/2017 | 8/28/2017 |
| Scott Ross | 8/23/2017 | 8/28/2017 |
| Sharon Stramel | 8/23/2017 | 8/28/2017 |
| Max E. Mann | 9/5/2017 | 9/5/2017 |
| Leonard Kashka Jr. | 9/7/2017 | 9/7/2017 |
| Doyle E. Saddler | 9/7/2017 | 9/7/2017 |
| Jon Friesen | 9/11/2017 | 9/13/2017 |
| GMD No. 4, Supplemental Testimony | 9/12/2017 | 9/13/2017 |
| Bert Stramel | 9/13/2017 | 9/13/2017 |
Resources
- Groundwater Management District No. 4 website
- Groundwater Management District Act (K.S.A. 82a-1020 through 82a-1042)
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