Water use in Cheyenne County

676 points of diversion — 1.1% of the Kansas file — reporting 39,529 acre-feet in 2023.

676Points

39,5292023, acre-feet

48,341Acres irrigated

441Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Cheyenne County

Reported use here peaked in 2012 at 73,826 acre-feet and bottomed in 2023 at 39,529. 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 50,774 acre-feet a year against 51,675 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 418 to 441: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Cheyenne County, 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	63,262	44,036	418
1991	56,982	43,979	427
1992	40,507	42,214	413
1993	45,076	43,707	415
1994	56,190	45,719	436
1995	41,520	42,894	410
1996	49,598	46,737	432
1997	60,842	48,598	445
1998	51,579	47,653	423
1999	51,194	47,693	429
2000	66,837	49,644	430
2001	52,658	47,372	425
2002	68,402	47,131	438
2003	60,350	46,747	442
2004	55,996	46,773	437
2005	50,071	46,397	433
2006	56,822	45,809	431
2007	58,390	45,390	428
2008	57,677	46,258	435
2009	42,108	45,517	431
2010	47,176	46,212	439
2011	55,310	46,084	433
2012	73,826	47,610	442
2013	70,964	48,265	453
2014	49,388	48,313	449
2015	56,208	47,626	442
2016	48,981	47,931	445
2017	46,056	48,371	436
2018	43,351	47,787	442
2019	42,200	48,008	437
2020	57,938	48,379	443
2021	57,325	48,560	443
2022	66,765	47,983	451
2023	39,529	48,341	441

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	668	98.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	8	1.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Northwest Kansas GMD 4	587	86.8%
Outside any district	89	13.2%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

235 of the 676 points in Cheyenne County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 308 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 Cheyenne County?

676 points of diversion sit in Cheyenne County, reporting 39,529 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, largest first

Cheyenne 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
54137	Cheyenne	ground	343	260	240	1
41388	Cheyenne	ground	240	276	120	0
52347	Cheyenne	ground	240	231	244	0
25113	Cheyenne	ground	239	236	244	0
38797	Cheyenne	ground	228	199	0	1
44216	Cheyenne	ground	225	236	239	0
23527	Cheyenne	ground	224	185	122	0
74228	Cheyenne	ground	222	235	0	17
6631	Cheyenne	ground	222	207	195	0
10056	Cheyenne	ground	219	254	240	1
1935	Cheyenne	ground	218	159	200	0
4656	Cheyenne	ground	218	189	122	0
12258	Cheyenne	ground	212	177	122	0
15833	Cheyenne	ground	211	182	204	1
18247	Cheyenne	ground	208	277	192	2
25674	Cheyenne	ground	208	222	203	0
5054	Cheyenne	ground	206	212	201	0
46206	Cheyenne	ground	205	236	242	0
18176	Cheyenne	ground	203	218	105	0
47285	Cheyenne	ground	203	227	210	0
31983	Cheyenne	ground	202	184	122	0
29754	Cheyenne	ground	199	226	120	1
21090	Cheyenne	ground	198	177	137	1
27439	Cheyenne	ground	195	201	151	0
48830	Cheyenne	ground	193	181	122	0
21323	Cheyenne	ground	192	176	240	0
30722	Cheyenne	ground	191	193	240	0
16998	Cheyenne	ground	186	168	120	0
30200	Cheyenne	ground	184	180	245	3
884	Cheyenne	ground	184	145	110	0
42894	Cheyenne	ground	182	188	240	3
53361	Cheyenne	ground	182	88	189	0
25536	Cheyenne	ground	181	173	120	0
40536	Cheyenne	ground	181	249	232	0
6182	Cheyenne	ground	178	178	120	1
11907	Cheyenne	ground	178	149	120	0
39848	Cheyenne	ground	174	160	120	0
28338	Cheyenne	ground	171	176	150	0
45557	Cheyenne	ground	171	176	240	0
37050	Cheyenne	ground	170	145	123	0
22111	Cheyenne	ground	165	167	145	6
39915	Cheyenne	ground	165	168	120	0
46355	Cheyenne	ground	164	181	180	0
37320	Cheyenne	ground	163	141	124	0
51027	Cheyenne	ground	163	158	121	0
46379	Cheyenne	ground	161	160	120	0
19238	Cheyenne	ground	160	164	122	0
62174	Cheyenne	ground	159	165	125	8
71575	Cheyenne	ground	156	142	122	15
26473	Cheyenne	ground	154	160	120	1
26742	Cheyenne	ground	154	150	122	0
15658	Cheyenne	ground	152	199	130	0
52218	Cheyenne	ground	152	181	125	2
36108	Cheyenne	ground	151	126	122	1
53099	Cheyenne	ground	151	134	120	0
9311	Cheyenne	ground	149	171	123	0
20910	Cheyenne	ground	149	170	122	0
32737	Cheyenne	ground	149	155	124	0
54027	Cheyenne	ground	149	138	120	1
31401	Cheyenne	ground	148	166	123	0
1213	Cheyenne	ground	147	137	122	0
8655	Cheyenne	ground	147	121	120	0
10924	Cheyenne	ground	147	151	124	0
48307	Cheyenne	ground	147	164	120	1
63719	Cheyenne	ground	147	167	120	9
2979	Cheyenne	ground	145	174	130	0
14485	Cheyenne	ground	145	165	130	0
40383	Cheyenne	ground	145	188	237	0
46406	Cheyenne	ground	145	190	180	3
11512	Cheyenne	ground	144	148	120	1
44844	Cheyenne	ground	144	181	120	1
51167	Cheyenne	ground	144	147	120	2
51708	Cheyenne	ground	144	71	71	0
5814	Cheyenne	ground	143	171	125	0
35474	Cheyenne	ground	142	138	120	0
11663	Cheyenne	ground	141	167	125	0
24138	Cheyenne	ground	141	167	240	1
36371	Cheyenne	ground	141	147	122	1
37632	Cheyenne	ground	138	153	110	6
16599	Cheyenne	ground	138	75	120	3
5682	Cheyenne	ground	137	166	120	0
6189	Cheyenne	ground	137	144	120	0
4861	Cheyenne	ground	136	157	122	0
28180	Cheyenne	ground	136	146	122	1
46408	Cheyenne	ground	136	115	118	0
2518	Cheyenne	ground	135	166	107	0
5929	Cheyenne	ground	135	104	120	6
6028	Cheyenne	ground	135	116	120	1
24229	Cheyenne	ground	135	161	154	2
45460	Cheyenne	ground	134	150	105	0
13839	Cheyenne	ground	133	126	122	0
40944	Cheyenne	ground	133	190	123	0
47265	Cheyenne	ground	133	65	120	12
77967	Cheyenne	ground	133	262	250	20
47139	Cheyenne	ground	132	148	121	0
5999	Cheyenne	ground	131	144	142	1
39330	Cheyenne	ground	131	130	100	4
44934	Cheyenne	ground	131	153	120	0
13357	Cheyenne	ground	130	162	144	0
36131	Cheyenne	ground	130	154	120	0
10496	Cheyenne	ground	129	141	176	4
27851	Cheyenne	ground	129	212	360	0
82622	Cheyenne	ground	129	118	330	24
13907	Cheyenne	ground	128	116	130	9
18656	Cheyenne	ground	128	131	122	10
50801	Cheyenne	ground	128	108	105	0
825	Cheyenne	ground	127	125	103	0
3293	Cheyenne	ground	127	187	122	1
33960	Cheyenne	ground	127	152	125	0
26005	Cheyenne	ground	126	155	125	0
43930	Cheyenne	ground	126	152	125	0
53693	Cheyenne	ground	126	163	123	0
14879	Cheyenne	ground	125	106	230	3
15131	Cheyenne	ground	124	102	115	0
24958	Cheyenne	ground	124	153	121	1
47099	Cheyenne	ground	124	171	204	0
281	Cheyenne	ground	123	137	121	0
5498	Cheyenne	ground	123	154	238	0
54338	Cheyenne	ground	122	173	122	4
25749	Cheyenne	ground	121	260	360	0

Counties with a comparable file

Barton 902
Norton 812
Sumner 785
Rice 752
Republic 721
Hodgeman 700
Cloud 685
Washington 663
Clay 654
Phillips 637
Pottawatomie 636
Wallace 621
Morton 601

Neighbours by the size of their file, not a ranking: the list slides with the county, so each of the 73 county pages is reachable from the others. All of them.