Water use in Grant County

1,103 points of diversion — 1.9% of the Kansas file — reporting 104,222 acre-feet in 2023.

1,103Points

104,2222023, acre-feet

99,203Acres irrigated

511Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Grant County

Reported use here peaked in 1991 at 241,381 acre-feet and bottomed in 2017 at 91,963. 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 113,029 acre-feet a year against 186,999 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 686 to 511: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Grant 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	227,357	142,379	686
1991	241,381	142,038	693
1992	218,337	143,886	682
1993	163,933	138,752	673
1994	201,983	139,396	677
1995	191,707	137,956	667
1996	179,010	134,388	661
1997	149,909	138,263	666
1998	148,121	136,953	651
1999	148,253	133,129	644
2000	171,997	127,424	631
2001	129,993	121,675	625
2002	174,409	121,857	628
2003	153,062	117,867	626
2004	131,106	117,253	606
2005	102,093	107,518	570
2006	137,502	106,532	559
2007	119,659	103,738	555
2008	142,133	104,305	558
2009	126,220	102,302	555
2010	143,368	104,148	566
2011	166,795	104,441	570
2012	161,053	106,424	566
2013	143,342	108,118	569
2014	138,231	102,113	555
2015	112,806	100,179	548
2016	112,186	97,375	545
2017	91,963	96,880	533
2018	103,116	92,862	531
2019	96,378	102,152	525
2020	123,238	92,935	521
2021	116,857	99,482	525
2022	131,296	96,605	521
2023	104,222	99,203	511

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	1,087	98.5%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	16	1.5%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Southwest Kansas GMD 3	1,103	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

592 of the 1,103 points in Grant County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 747 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 Grant County?

1,103 points of diversion sit in Grant County, reporting 104,222 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

Grant 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
9142	Grant	ground	747	631	524	0
83872	Grant	ground	676	666	450	25
25083	Grant	ground	639	510	260	1
53123	Grant	ground	606	581	366	0
23560	Grant	ground	600	459	375	0
78008	Grant	ground	596	369	320	20
13487	Grant	ground	552	495	320	0
86875	Grant	ground	543	303	250	28
84358	Grant	ground	521	412	245	25
69795	Grant	ground	520	200	259	14
32774	Grant	ground	515	520	480	0
84402	Grant	ground	505	436	255	25
87627	Grant	ground	502	238	366	30
89200	Grant	ground	477	101	240	32
47562	Grant	ground	471	343	250	1
84621	Grant	ground	470	182	0	26
24157	Grant	ground	456	467	246	0
76423	Grant	ground	453	550	228	19
49008	Grant	ground	451	226	240	3
51768	Grant	ground	450	349	212	1
89993	Grant	ground	449	45	520	33
11945	Grant	ground	448	411	250	0
37507	Grant	ground	448	416	250	0
6665	Grant	ground	446	358	200	1
64834	Grant	ground	439	388	367	10
77530	Grant	ground	438	310	242	20
45932	Grant	ground	436	569	0	0
89643	Grant	ground	427	58	248	32
638	Grant	ground	424	460	374	0
30492	Grant	ground	423	342	238	0
72358	Grant	ground	422	399	242	16
80407	Grant	ground	420	306	360	22
42155	Grant	ground	419	251	236	1
37042	Grant	ground	417	379	243	0
54695	Grant	ground	416	416	234	0
50576	Grant	ground	415	471	246	0
79488	Grant	ground	415	510	369	22
24095	Grant	ground	412	408	360	0
75250	Grant	ground	412	363	320	18
40029	Grant	ground	409	391	247	2
68906	Grant	ground	407	444	0	13
10551	Grant	ground	404	448	240	0
80308	Grant	ground	400	380	329	22
51	Grant	ground	400	164	240	4
12541	Grant	ground	399	338	328	1
16897	Grant	ground	394	409	320	0
86679	Grant	ground	393	198	250	28
63585	Grant	ground	391	406	244	9
51746	Grant	ground	391	396	244	0
20371	Grant	ground	388	430	250	0
11118	Grant	ground	387	293	240	0
86424	Grant	ground	387	278	246	27
88745	Grant	ground	385	134	321	31
38833	Grant	ground	383	310	250	1
90163	Grant	ground	381	38	244	33
48606	Grant	ground	379	333	320	0
28929	Grant	ground	378	369	213	0
27699	Grant	ground	377	313	240	0
16912	Grant	ground	376	340	350	0
50951	Grant	ground	373	376	500	0
43759	Grant	ground	372	395	250	0
49835	Grant	ground	372	268	184	1
72006	Grant	ground	371	404	250	15
27115	Grant	ground	370	340	244	1
39635	Grant	ground	369	409	250	0
39952	Grant	ground	367	300	246	0
36735	Grant	ground	365	328	367	6
9199	Grant	ground	362	404	250	0
66906	Grant	ground	361	328	240	12
89758	Grant	ground	358	64	236	32
46414	Grant	ground	356	335	357	0
89727	Grant	ground	356	82	250	32
17059	Grant	ground	354	362	250	0
38107	Grant	ground	353	183	340	4
23841	Grant	ground	351	372	369	0
47086	Grant	ground	351	414	250	1
769	Grant	ground	350	333	320	0
4415	Grant	ground	350	396	465	0
51008	Grant	ground	350	344	121	5
29224	Grant	ground	349	351	250	0
990	Grant	ground	347	456	448	0
1045	Grant	ground	343	333	250	0
76147	Grant	ground	340	407	263	18
63400	Grant	ground	339	424	190	9
67709	Grant	ground	339	325	250	12
33723	Grant	ground	336	261	200	1
74861	Grant	ground	336	338	500	18
24021	Grant	ground	335	341	244	0
89326	Grant	ground	335	60	180	32
27605	Grant	ground	334	328	250	1
20368	Grant	ground	332	332	250	1
54021	Grant	ground	332	327	250	1
79580	Grant	ground	329	348	250	22
16158	Grant	ground	327	368	246	0
80176	Grant	ground	327	478	453	22
39804	Grant	ground	326	241	260	0
20013	Grant	ground	325	350	320	0
7263	Grant	ground	320	336	320	0
4878	Grant	ground	319	333	0	6
79312	Grant	ground	319	382	250	21
89616	Grant	ground	318	78	250	32
77711	Grant	ground	317	294	125	20
16619	Grant	ground	315	289	244	0
80669	Grant	ground	315	321	250	22
14057	Grant	ground	314	440	250	0
89636	Grant	ground	314	56	260	32
65934	Grant	ground	313	530	480	11
70817	Grant	ground	313	341	359	15
23457	Grant	ground	310	335	230	0
14680	Grant	ground	309	269	242	1
89030	Grant	ground	306	81	188	31
15208	Grant	ground	303	399	250	0
78603	Grant	ground	302	274	170	21
83602	Grant	ground	302	360	320	24
6027	Grant	ground	301	358	250	1
27607	Grant	ground	301	279	240	0
35960	Grant	ground	301	263	250	3
81083	Grant	ground	301	434	245	23
86784	Grant	ground	300	151	160	28
14700	Grant	ground	299	248	320	0

Counties with a comparable file

Kearny 1,364
Edwards 1,258
Stevens 1,256
Wichita 1,194
Scott 1,178
Stafford 1,121
Mcpherson 1,113
Stanton 1,064
Sherman 1,019
Pratt 1,015
Seward 1,005
Thomas 995
Harvey 989

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.