On February 10, the chief engineer in the Division of Water Resources at the Kansas Department of Agriculture received a request to secure water from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service related to their senior water right for Quivira National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Stafford County, Kansas. It was determined in 2016 that upstream junior groundwater pumping in the Rattlesnake Creek basin regularly and significantly impairs the service’s ability to use its water right. In the short term, the chief engineer and DWR staff will be reviewing the request to determine appropriate and legal actions necessary to respond to the request in a timely manner.

More information about this issue can be found here: Quivira National Wildlife Refuge Impairment Complaint