City of Hays / R9 Ranch Water Right Change Applications

NEWS:

On March 27, 2019, the chief engineer contingently approved the change applications submitted by the cities of Hays and Russell to convert the irrigation rights of the R9 Ranch in Edwards County to municipal use for the cities. Documents related to this action can be accessed in the table below. The next step will be the initiation of the Water Transfer proceedings.

Background
 The City of Hays purchased the approximately 7,000-acre R9 Ranch and its thirty water rights in southwestern Edwards County in 1995 with the intention of someday using the water as part of the Cities of Hays and Russell's water supply.

During June 2015, the Cities of Hays and Russell (Cities) submitted applications to KDA-DWR to change the use made of water from irrigation to municipal use for the R9 Ranch water rights. As these proposed changes envision moving greater than 2,000 acre-feet more than 35 miles, during January 2016, the Cities submitted an application to transfer water from Edwards County to the Cities pursuant to the Water Transfer Act (K.S.A. 82a-1501, et seq.).

The water right change applications and other information related to their consideration are available below.

During May 2018, a draft proposed master order and exhibits were transmitted to GMD5 for its review and posted on this website, along with the change applications and amendments. A public informational meetings was held on June 21, 2018 to discuss the applications. GMD5 provided a recommendation on August 28, which was supplemented on September 14; WaterPACK provided additional responses on August 21 and 13; and the cities provided responses on September 14 and 18. 

Additional information on the Hays/R9 Transfer Application

Change Application Processing

Description Document File
                         		 File Size     Date Posted Provided by
DWR's contingent approval documents for the proposed changes Transmittal Letter
Contingently Approved Order		 836 KB
 8 MB		 03/28/2019 DWR 
Summary of DWR contingent approval of Hays/Russell change applications regarding R9 Ranch Project  DWR Approval Summary  130 KB  03/28/2019 DWR
DWR staff review of R9 Ranch pumping and water levels DWR staff review
1 MB
 
03/28/2019  
DWR
Cities' amended monitoring plan Amended monitoring plan 358 KB  02/04/2019 City of Hays
GMD5 recommendation regarding change applications, expanded GMD5 Recommendation, expanded 499 KB  09/14/2018 GMD5 
GMD5 recommendation regarding change applications GMD5 Recommendation 643 KB  08/30/2018 GMD5 
Notice to GMD5 of proposed municipal well revised location description Notice to GMD5 of revised well location description 301 KB 08/21/2018 DWR
City of Hays
Proposed municipal well revised location description Revised well location description  249 KB  08/21/2018  City of Hays 
DWR request to GMD5 for a recommendation concerning Hays/Russell R9 Ranch change applications Request for Recommendation 55 KB  08/03/2018 DWR
Public Informational Meeting support information from June 21, 2018 See Reference Materials table below  NA  06/25/2018 DWR
City of Hays
WaterPACK
DWR summary and tentative timeline concerning review of Hays/Russell R9 Ranch change applications Summary and tentative timeline
 61 KB  05/15/2018  DWR
Transmittal to GMD No. 5 Transmittal to GMD No. 5  46 KB  05/07/2018 DWR
Draft proposed master order Draft proposed master order
 1 MB  05/07/2018 DWR
Draft proposed master order exhibits Draft proposed master order exhibits
 5 MB  05/07/2018 DWR
Letter to DWR confirming intent to amend change applications Intent to amend change applications
 80 KB  05/07/2018 City of Hays
Notice of posting modeling report and modeling files R9 Notice of Posting Modeling Report 40 KB  02/19/2018 DWR
R9 Ranch Groundwater Modeling Report R9 Ranch Modeling Report 3.4 MB 02/16/2018 City of Hays
Meeting Follow-up Letter 04/06/2016 DWR Additional Comments 2
MB		 04/08/2016 DWR
KDA-DWR letter with additional comments on review of the change applications 03/08/2016 DWR Meeting Preparation 446 KB 04/08/2016 DWR
KDA-DWR letter with comments from its initial review of the change applications 01/21/2106 DWR Initial Review Letter 894 KB 04/08/2016 DWR

Change Applications

File No. Original Application Amended Application Second Amended Application
Multiple Cover letter for original application
June 25, 2015		 Amended applications sent November, 2016 -no cover letter Cover letter with second group of amended applications 
March 25-26, 2018
21,729-D1 21,729-D1 original application
 21,729-D1 amended application
 21,729-D1 second amended application
21,729-D2 21,729-D2 original application
   21,729-D2 second amended application
21,730 21,730 original application
 21,730 amended application
 21,730 second amended application
21,731 21,731 original application
 21,731 amended application
 21,731 second amended application
21,732-D1 21,732-D1 original application
 21,732-D1 amended application
 21,732-D1 second amended application
21,732-D2 21,732-D2 original application
   21,732-D2 second amended application
21,733 21,733 original application
 21,733 amended application
 21,733 second amended application
21,734 21,734 original application
 21,734 amended application
 21,734 second amended application
21,841 21,841 original application
 21,841 amended application
 21,841 second amended application
21,842 21,842 original application
 21,842 amended application
 21,842 second amended application
22,325 22,325 original application  22,325 amended application
 22,325 second amended application
22,326 22,326 original application
 22,326 amended application
 22,326 second amended application
22,327 22,327 original application
 22,327 amended application
 22,327 second amended application
22,329 22,329 original application
 22,329 amended application
 22,329 second amended application
22,330 22,330 original application
 22,330 amended application
 22,330 second amended applications
22,331 22,331 original application
 22,331 amended application
 22,331 second amended application
22,332 22,332 original application
 22,332 amended application
 22,332 second amended application
22,333 22,333 original application
 22,333 amended application
 22,333 second amended application
22,334 22,334 original application
 22,334 amended application
 22,334 second amended application
22,335 22,335 original application
 22,335 amended application
 22,335 second amended application
22,338 22,338 original application
 22,338 amended application
 22,338 second amended application
22,339 22,339 original application
 22,339 amended application
 22,339 second amended application
22,340 22,340 original application
 22,340 amended application
 22,340 second amended application
22,341 22,341 original application
 22,341 amended application
 22,341 second amended application
22,342 22,342 original application
 22,342 amended application
 22,342 second amended application
22,343 22,343 original application
 22,343 amended application
 22,343 second amended application
22,345 22,345 original application
 22,345 amended application
 22,345 second amended application
22,346 22,346 original application
 22,346 amended application
 22,346 second amended application
27,760 27,760 original application
 27,760 amended application
 27,760 second amended application
29,816 29,816 original application
 29,816 amended application
 29,816 second amended application
30,083 30,083 original application
 30,083 amended application
 30,083 second amended application
30,084 30,084 original application
 30,084 amended application 30,084 second amended application

Reference Materials

Description Document File File Size Date Posted Provided by
Recharge Information, Hansen Report USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 87-4230   17 KB 04/08/2016 USGS
GMD #5 Groundwater Model Report Hydrologic Model of Big Bend GMD No. 5  13 KB 04/08/2016 Balleau Groundwater, INC.
R9 Ranch area wells Local well ID lookup table
KGS WIZARD website 		 NA 04/08/2016 KGS

Public Comments Regarding Change Applications

Description Document File File Size Document Date Provided by
Updated modeling report based on fixing a minor technical error in the modeling identified by GMD 5 in July Updated modeling report 5 MB  09/24/2018 Burns & McDonnell
Cities' letter to DWR regarding change applications Hays and Russell to DWR
 64 KB  09/14/2018 Hays & Russell
Cities' Comments on Draft Master Order Hays and Russell Letter 2 MB 09/14/2018 Hays & Russell 
WaterPack transfer quantity challenge to DWR WaterPack Letter 633 KB 09/11/2018 WaterPack 
Balleau technical assessment on the R9 Ranch modeling and WaterPACK analysis Balleau assessment 44 MB  08/30/2018 GMD5 
Balleau in-line comments on the Keller-Bliesner August 21 review Balleau comments on Keller report  1.8 MB  08/27/2018  GMD5
Keller review of Burns & McDonnell modeling report Keller review of Burns and McDonnell report  197 KB 08/22/2018  Keller
Cities of Hays and Russell response to Keller report from June 21, 2018 public meeting Cities' response to Keller report 165 KB  08/06/2018 Hays & Russell
Burns & McDonnell review of Keller R9 Ranch reports from June 21, 2018 public meeting Burns & McDonnell review of Keller report 5 MB  08/06/2018 Burns & McDonnell
Email string between GMD 5 and the Cities' consultants regarding the Cities' modeling work July 2018 email string 171 KB  07/2018 Multiple
Public comment Kent Moore (WaterPACK) 91 MB 07/25/2018  WaterPACK
Public comment Richard Wenstrom 78 KB  07/16/2018  Wenstrom 
Public comment Kent Moore (WaterPACK)   192 KB 07/16/2018  WaterPACK
Public comment Leroy Wetzel   61 KB  07/13/2018  Wetzel 
Public comment Lee Borck 90 KB  07/10/2018  Borck 
Public comment Quentin Hirsh 15 KB  07/10/2018  Hirsh 
Public comment William Burr 16 KB  07/07/2018  Burr 
Public comment Barry Mayhew 15 KB  07/06/2018  Mayhew 
Public comment Jared Stegman 15 KB  06/29/2018  Stegman 
City of Hays and DWR Presentations on Hays/R9 Water Right Changes Link to YouTube Video 
DWR Hays/R9 Summary
DWR PPT
City of Hays PPT		 NA 06/25/2018 DWR/Hays
Public comments by WaterPACK/Keller on Hays/R9 Water Right Changes - Consumptive Use Link to YouTube Video
WaterPACK/Keller PPT		 NA  06/25/2018 WaterPACK/
Keller
Public comment Jane Wenstrom 104 KB 06/09/2018 Wenstrom
R9 Ranch Consumptive Use Analysis R9 Ranch Consumptive Use Analysis 5 MB 11/24/2016  WaterPACK 

Timeline

1995                R9 Ranch and water rights purchased by the City of Hays

2015-06-26      Cities of Hays and Russell (Cities) apply to change R9 Ranch water rights from irrigation to municipal use

2016-01-06      Cities apply to transfer water from R9 Ranch to Hays and Russell

2016-01-21      KDA-DWR letter to the Cities with comments from its review of the change applications

2016-03-08      KDA-DWR letter to the Cities with additional comments from its review of the change applications

2016-03-24      Cities of Hays and Russell meet with KDA-DWR to discuss details of the water right
                         change applications

2016-04-06       KDA-DWR letter to the Cities summarizing 3/24/2016 meeting and next steps

2018-02-16       KDA-DWR post Cities' modeling report

2018-05-07       KDA-DWR transmits draft proposed master order with exhibits to GMD No. 5 for review and posts to its website

2018-05-11       KDA-DWR posts change applications and amendments to its website. 

2018-06-21       Public informational meeting to discuss application in Greensburg, Kansas.

Summer 2018   Public input on proposed change applications

2018-08-30       GMD No. 5 comments on change applications

2018-09-14       GMD No. 5 provides supplemental comments on change applications

2018-10-05       Updated modeling report

2019-03-27       Contingent Approval of Change Applications