Surface water — Brown County

208 of the 404 points in Brown County — 51.5% — take this source.

What this source means

water taken from a river, a stream or a reservoir. Surface rights answer to different rules and, in a dry year, to a different reality: the river can simply not be there.

What the series actually shows — this group

Reported use here peaked in 2010 at 4,501 acre-feet and bottomed in 1990 at 87. That swing is rainfall, not policy: a wet year needs less pumping than a dry one, and any two years picked from this table can be made to say almost anything.

Comparing decades instead: the last ten years average 2,504 acre-feet a year against 396 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 1 to 49: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use for these points, year by year. « Points reporting » counts those returning more than nought — a 0 is not a finding, see below.
Year	Acre-feet	Acres irrigated	Points reporting
1990	87	0	1
1991	188	0	1
1992	195	0	1
1993	198	35	1
1994	249	35	1
1995	462	35	2
1996	598	35	2
1997	581	35	2
1998	652	205	4
1999	745	205	4
2000	592	175	4
2001	433	205	4
2002	457	140	4
2003	477	55	3
2004	474	20	2
2005	506	208	5
2006	461	208	5
2007	503	239	5
2008	650	727	9
2009	2,296	1,080	9
2010	4,501	1,261	13
2011	876	1,569	17
2012	1,488	1,847	21
2013	1,779	3,658	29
2014	1,916	4,317	32
2015	1,929	4,368	35
2016	2,415	5,079	38
2017	2,795	5,271	38
2018	2,093	4,967	39
2019	1,606	5,495	37
2020	2,087	5,958	38
2021	2,783	6,695	44
2022	3,692	7,037	46
2023	3,728	7,257	49

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

159 of the 208 points in this group report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 207 show five or more successive years at 0 in this file.

A 0 in this file is not a finding. There are no blanks in the usage columns — every point carries a number for every year — so a nil return, a point that did not yet exist, and a report never filed all read the same. Kansas fines non-filing (USD 250 per file, USD 1,000 and suspension after 1 June), which is exactly why a missing report looks like a quiet year.

Kansas does terminate a water right after five successive years without beneficial use — K.S.A. 82a-718 — but only without due and sufficient cause, and only after a hearing before the chief engineer with 30 days’ notice. Four causes are recognised in K.A.R. 5-7-1, including adequate rainfall and water being unavailable at the source, and enrolment in the water rights conservation programme counts as one. A run of zeros here is a reason to check, never a conclusion.

Buying or defending irrigated ground in Brown County?

208 points of diversion sit in Brown County, reporting 3,728 acre-feet in 2023. What a right is actually worth turns on how much it has been used and on whether it can be defended — questions this site cannot answer for a particular file. Tell us where and we pass the request to Kansas water lawyers and consultants.

We recommend nobody and we are nobody's agent. We have no arrangement with any firm today — we are collecting these requests in order to go and find them. What we do with this.

The points

surface water, Brown County, ordered by reported use in 2023. The last column counts the longest run of years at 0 in this file — a fact about the file, not a finding about the right.
Point	County	Source	2023 (AF)	10-yr avg	Acres 2023	Longest run of 0
82000	Brown	surface	457	114	318	26
9490	Brown	surface	374	394	0	5
88456	Brown	surface	285	64	198	31
81999	Brown	surface	259	59	180	28
74261	Brown	surface	214	167	268	18
80965	Brown	surface	166	93	278	23
82146	Brown	surface	113	58	141	25
86769	Brown	surface	108	45	225	31
84856	Brown	surface	100	73	172	26
81383	Brown	surface	98	46	180	24
80801	Brown	surface	94	85	235	23
81730	Brown	surface	91	30	220	30
77075	Brown	surface	76	75	185	20
66984	Brown	surface	67	50	165	15
86567	Brown	surface	65	16	105	32
80827	Brown	surface	63	67	249	23
89051	Brown	surface	63	6	60	33
79360	Brown	surface	60	46	135	22
74253	Brown	surface	60	36	85	21
83382	Brown	surface	58	59	235	24
82069	Brown	surface	57	66	422	24
82077	Brown	surface	56	60	320	24
83153	Brown	surface	52	36	205	26
82576	Brown	surface	51	16	159	30
74394	Brown	surface	50	28	196	19
75976	Brown	surface	45	46	31	19
81076	Brown	surface	45	52	126	23
79439	Brown	surface	44	47	290	23
78053	Brown	surface	43	37	210	21
86357	Brown	surface	35	24	210	28
75117	Brown	surface	31	37	103	18
74957	Brown	surface	31	30	87	18
80680	Brown	surface	31	9	28	29
75912	Brown	surface	29	24	37	20
81077	Brown	surface	29	28	76	23
82920	Brown	surface	26	20	104	25
87134	Brown	surface	26	13	18	31
80341	Brown	surface	25	44	83	24
80342	Brown	surface	22	45	75	23
78033	Brown	surface	19	19	100	25
81075	Brown	surface	18	27	133	23
86257	Brown	surface	18	30	197	29
74273	Brown	surface	17	6	31	31
61648	Brown	surface	17	15	9	8
36386	Brown	surface	15	12	60	0
78542	Brown	surface	11	5	37	21
87212	Brown	surface	11	6	65	29
89066	Brown	surface	2	0	202	33
79668	Brown	surface	1	66	9	22
17540	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
24566	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
31960	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
39789	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
61937	Brown	surface	0	8	0	8
62149	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
62150	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
62151	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
62152	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
64191	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
65022	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
65238	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
65306	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
66235	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
66236	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
67218	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
67263	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69334	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69335	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69336	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69337	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69339	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69340	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69342	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69343	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69344	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69345	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69346	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69347	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69348	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
69349	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70162	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70932	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70933	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70934	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70935	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70936	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70937	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70938	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70939	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70940	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70941	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
70942	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
71893	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
73680	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
73688	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
73689	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
73690	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74013	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74230	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74231	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74232	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74233	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74234	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74235	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74236	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74237	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74238	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74239	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74240	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74241	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74242	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74243	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74244	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74245	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74246	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74247	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74248	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74249	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74250	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74251	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74252	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74254	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74255	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74256	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74257	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74258	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74259	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74260	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74262	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74263	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74264	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74265	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74266	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74267	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74268	Brown	surface	0	28	0	21
74269	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74270	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74271	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74272	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74383	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74384	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74385	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74386	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74387	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74388	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74389	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74390	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74391	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74392	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74393	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74395	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74396	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74397	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74398	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74399	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74400	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74401	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
74402	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75116	Brown	surface	0	2	0	18
75154	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75155	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75156	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75157	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75158	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75159	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75160	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75161	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75162	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75163	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75164	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75165	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75166	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75167	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75168	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75177	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75178	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75179	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75180	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75181	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75183	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75184	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75185	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75186	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75187	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75188	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75189	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
75549	Brown	surface	0	12	0	20
76339	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
77115	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
77116	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
77165	Brown	surface	0	9	0	21
77894	Brown	surface	0	5	0	22
80802	Brown	surface	0	0	0	23
81165	Brown	surface	0	9	0	26
81332	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
81333	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
81578	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
81901	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
81998	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34
82070	Brown	surface	0	0	0	34

Part of a bigger picture: all 404 points in Brown County.