Water use in Gray County

2,214 points of diversion — 3.7% of the Kansas file — reporting 151,760 acre-feet in 2023.

2,214Points

151,7602023, acre-feet

151,818Acres irrigated

1,065Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Gray County

Reported use here peaked in 1991 at 321,385 acre-feet and bottomed in 2019 at 146,073. 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 162,338 acre-feet a year against 250,528 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 1,357 to 1,065: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Gray 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	307,175	197,389	1,357
1991	321,385	197,652	1,361
1992	236,918	192,815	1,334
1993	213,634	187,749	1,320
1994	258,830	190,257	1,342
1995	251,204	192,799	1,317
1996	220,625	188,924	1,324
1997	226,940	195,240	1,368
1998	257,771	198,040	1,360
1999	210,800	197,798	1,370
2000	265,934	197,997	1,361
2001	249,450	194,408	1,350
2002	277,693	185,310	1,327
2003	242,771	182,422	1,337
2004	220,491	184,752	1,331
2005	199,903	180,292	1,309
2006	230,657	181,817	1,311
2007	201,562	179,174	1,288
2008	220,918	179,317	1,289
2009	199,493	174,808	1,287
2010	212,090	170,765	1,259
2011	261,812	168,113	1,230
2012	223,631	162,438	1,209
2013	204,483	165,164	1,181
2014	189,998	156,644	1,148
2015	148,109	156,469	1,130
2016	150,808	153,508	1,116
2017	151,640	153,755	1,103
2018	155,494	149,601	1,105
2019	146,073	155,628	1,090
2020	165,874	148,401	1,077
2021	158,370	158,425	1,069
2022	205,253	155,620	1,084
2023	151,760	151,818	1,065

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	2,197	99.2%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	17	0.8%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Southwest Kansas GMD 3	2,214	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

1,149 of the 2,214 points in Gray County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 1,511 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 Gray County?

2,214 points of diversion sit in Gray County, reporting 151,760 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

Gray 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
87614	Gray	ground	467	214	255	29
66986	Gray	ground	452	387	500	12
86688	Gray	ground	450	290	299	28
72496	Gray	ground	434	402	250	16
16655	Gray	ground	427	382	320	0
76426	Gray	ground	424	306	240	19
10946	Gray	ground	412	397	246	1
89124	Gray	ground	399	46	0	32
7419	Gray	ground	395	289	198	1
8316	Gray	ground	395	393	247	0
88671	Gray	ground	395	128	368	31
85808	Gray	ground	388	287	250	27
31570	Gray	ground	384	356	213	0
68881	Gray	ground	380	339	246	13
51470	Gray	ground	369	370	300	1
85466	Gray	ground	367	206	600	27
65658	Gray	ground	366	352	247	11
71289	Gray	ground	366	274	300	15
75354	Gray	ground	364	351	244	18
43147	Gray	ground	362	431	250	0
10450	Gray	ground	357	331	240	0
38337	Gray	ground	356	144	120	3
61670	Gray	ground	356	270	250	8
75738	Gray	ground	355	366	248	18
74156	Gray	ground	348	413	242	17
38413	Gray	ground	347	349	386	1
17646	Gray	ground	345	389	272	0
85159	Gray	ground	345	252	470	26
2964	Gray	ground	343	283	145	0
22727	Gray	ground	337	332	124	0
78816	Gray	ground	335	377	249	21
83611	Gray	ground	334	344	250	24
72550	Gray	ground	329	299	315	16
20827	Gray	ground	323	298	0	1
38257	Gray	ground	320	342	251	1
83096	Gray	ground	320	271	130	24
40117	Gray	ground	319	262	130	0
61615	Gray	ground	319	235	221	7
35627	Gray	ground	317	309	250	1
78673	Gray	ground	316	239	240	21
79105	Gray	ground	316	239	123	22
21723	Gray	ground	314	230	122	1
22897	Gray	ground	314	250	245	1
6260	Gray	ground	313	277	225	0
46044	Gray	ground	312	249	122	1
42515	Gray	ground	310	348	243	2
67918	Gray	ground	306	269	205	12
72362	Gray	ground	301	271	136	16
34675	Gray	ground	301	397	250	0
2206	Gray	ground	300	389	246	0
4659	Gray	ground	299	268	152	8
31433	Gray	ground	294	269	227	0
54689	Gray	ground	292	171	122	0
81750	Gray	ground	292	308	215	23
32991	Gray	ground	290	162	0	1
43451	Gray	ground	290	207	123	0
82427	Gray	ground	289	220	125	23
75720	Gray	ground	288	199	240	18
76453	Gray	ground	287	240	125	19
48076	Gray	ground	285	208	123	0
84433	Gray	ground	285	212	125	25
87293	Gray	ground	285	155	246	29
52029	Gray	ground	283	302	271	0
78532	Gray	ground	283	323	213	21
1451	Gray	ground	282	183	125	4
29941	Gray	ground	282	218	127	0
87329	Gray	ground	282	170	246	29
2785	Gray	ground	281	269	242	12
43994	Gray	ground	281	331	246	0
24533	Gray	ground	279	262	375	0
65329	Gray	ground	279	310	240	10
29303	Gray	ground	278	263	204	1
39625	Gray	ground	278	227	123	0
52676	Gray	ground	278	200	244	0
72537	Gray	ground	278	347	250	16
1114	Gray	ground	276	237	180	0
67415	Gray	ground	276	233	250	12
67533	Gray	ground	276	313	250	12
64881	Gray	ground	275	287	187	10
2436	Gray	ground	274	251	246	1
84698	Gray	ground	273	159	125	25
20774	Gray	ground	273	274	246	1
50121	Gray	ground	272	243	340	1
65726	Gray	ground	272	264	125	11
67206	Gray	ground	272	292	250	12
2861	Gray	ground	270	297	144	0
21169	Gray	ground	270	292	136	0
53214	Gray	ground	270	191	125	0
22057	Gray	ground	269	260	258	1
85692	Gray	ground	269	263	248	26
4515	Gray	ground	268	250	123	8
8308	Gray	ground	268	208	125	5
20452	Gray	ground	268	320	480	0
60927	Gray	ground	268	197	200	7
66780	Gray	ground	267	244	122	11
9656	Gray	ground	266	245	125	0
17642	Gray	ground	266	236	123	5
68293	Gray	ground	265	334	250	13
80536	Gray	ground	265	268	240	22
34766	Gray	ground	265	201	125	5
79565	Gray	ground	262	252	160	22
85293	Gray	ground	262	166	122	26
44597	Gray	ground	261	242	123	8
46752	Gray	ground	261	256	240	0
67328	Gray	ground	260	241	155	12
17415	Gray	ground	260	198	141	6
34822	Gray	ground	259	218	120	2
71607	Gray	ground	258	195	123	20
87290	Gray	ground	258	102	219	29
41889	Gray	ground	257	248	250	0
13381	Gray	ground	256	299	124	0
64325	Gray	ground	256	240	125	10
7888	Gray	ground	255	230	120	0
26397	Gray	ground	255	209	349	0
67341	Gray	ground	255	206	200	12
76286	Gray	ground	254	231	123	19
73452	Gray	ground	253	76	187	16
21701	Gray	ground	252	258	250	8
48880	Gray	ground	252	284	250	0
67993	Gray	ground	252	237	125	12

Counties with a comparable file

Finney 2,854
Sedgwick 2,240
Reno 1,990
Haskell 1,667
Ford 1,506
Pawnee 1,365
Kearny 1,364
Edwards 1,258
Stevens 1,256
Wichita 1,194
Scott 1,178
Stafford 1,121
Mcpherson 1,113

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.