Water use in Hodgeman County

700 points of diversion — 1.2% of the Kansas file — reporting 28,806 acre-feet in 2023.

700Points

28,8062023, acre-feet

32,511Acres irrigated

345Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Hodgeman County

Reported use here peaked in 1991 at 46,883 acre-feet and bottomed in 1993 at 15,968. 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 23,552 acre-feet a year against 30,592 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 382 to 345: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Hodgeman 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	40,725	28,836	382
1991	46,883	29,250	378
1992	22,144	25,516	356
1993	15,968	23,658	320
1994	34,600	28,663	372
1995	35,498	28,977	365
1996	26,684	27,455	366
1997	24,023	28,675	361
1998	31,433	28,725	353
1999	27,961	28,975	353
2000	35,288	28,645	372
2001	32,290	27,518	345
2002	36,457	28,539	347
2003	34,666	28,137	349
2004	30,756	27,312	357
2005	28,146	27,537	351
2006	28,055	27,030	356
2007	20,753	24,434	338
2008	25,151	25,099	337
2009	21,061	24,922	344
2010	24,722	25,605	353
2011	34,469	26,580	358
2012	29,494	26,800	348
2013	25,178	27,236	332
2014	23,512	26,843	337
2015	20,664	27,669	332
2016	20,028	27,182	341
2017	23,950	27,428	333
2018	19,549	25,832	330
2019	21,517	30,321	325
2020	22,061	26,665	328
2021	22,629	29,655	325
2022	32,802	25,789	339
2023	28,806	32,511	345

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	643	91.9%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	57	8.1%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Outside any district	700	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

355 of the 700 points in Hodgeman County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 493 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 Hodgeman County?

700 points of diversion sit in Hodgeman County, reporting 28,806 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

Hodgeman 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
76904	Hodgeman	ground	473	242	233	19
64380	Hodgeman	ground	397	320	475	10
42984	Hodgeman	ground	370	274	300	0
45705	Hodgeman	ground	338	206	360	4
28337	Hodgeman	ground	320	280	127	0
64556	Hodgeman	ground	294	275	246	10
13779	Hodgeman	ground	279	185	360	0
36241	Hodgeman	ground	268	188	236	2
4026	Hodgeman	ground	257	216	240	0
90216	Hodgeman	ground	246	25	210	33
66125	Hodgeman	ground	242	209	290	11
10851	Hodgeman	ground	235	117	194	0
54925	Hodgeman	ground	232	163	130	6
42076	Hodgeman	ground	232	182	0	1
84191	Hodgeman	ground	231	155	240	25
83116	Hodgeman	ground	229	169	160	24
1893	Hodgeman	ground	226	172	350	0
47127	Hodgeman	ground	221	226	300	0
83541	Hodgeman	ground	217	110	110	24
9085	Hodgeman	ground	217	188	248	0
66094	Hodgeman	ground	216	175	185	11
66402	Hodgeman	ground	211	143	121	11
53479	Hodgeman	ground	202	182	240	0
36513	Hodgeman	ground	200	204	115	0
65897	Hodgeman	ground	198	177	146	12
37838	Hodgeman	ground	192	134	180	3
63775	Hodgeman	ground	191	179	200	9
79420	Hodgeman	ground	189	105	120	22
33347	Hodgeman	ground	187	158	117	0
81823	Hodgeman	ground	181	146	160	23
40367	Hodgeman	ground	180	55	160	4
20358	Hodgeman	ground	179	133	110	2
88939	Hodgeman	ground	177	49	120	31
3397	Hodgeman	ground	177	169	240	0
86065	Hodgeman	ground	174	66	102	27
79563	Hodgeman	ground	172	166	205	22
76875	Hodgeman	ground	171	148	108	19
4481	Hodgeman	ground	171	131	124	0
77656	Hodgeman	ground	171	79	180	20
41179	Hodgeman	ground	171	155	35	2
46760	Hodgeman	ground	169	103	120	0
38351	Hodgeman	ground	167	182	207	0
46507	Hodgeman	ground	166	108	168	0
84409	Hodgeman	ground	166	108	108	25
80769	Hodgeman	ground	164	178	130	22
14977	Hodgeman	ground	162	99	120	0
50011	Hodgeman	ground	161	71	97	0
10607	Hodgeman	ground	160	127	134	2
25278	Hodgeman	ground	156	163	140	0
23882	Hodgeman	ground	155	142	150	0
44405	Hodgeman	ground	155	139	125	0
67802	Hodgeman	ground	154	86	120	12
24070	Hodgeman	ground	153	183	125	4
24453	Hodgeman	ground	151	41	120	27
4275	Hodgeman	ground	150	160	1,261	1
15360	Hodgeman	ground	147	117	125	0
53283	Hodgeman	ground	147	189	115	0
77789	Hodgeman	ground	147	159	154	20
11278	Hodgeman	ground	146	116	63	2
47923	Hodgeman	ground	145	142	124	0
22202	Hodgeman	ground	143	94	91	4
13249	Hodgeman	ground	141	48	142	3
3814	Hodgeman	ground	140	54	78	3
76765	Hodgeman	ground	140	105	114	20
33374	Hodgeman	ground	140	101	66	0
60921	Hodgeman	ground	139	106	122	7
88031	Hodgeman	ground	139	53	120	30
17170	Hodgeman	ground	138	117	63	0
40121	Hodgeman	ground	137	97	123	6
19347	Hodgeman	ground	137	44	120	22
26862	Hodgeman	ground	135	101	180	4
40096	Hodgeman	ground	135	80	65	0
3835	Hodgeman	ground	134	112	85	0
82001	Hodgeman	ground	134	112	116	23
7097	Hodgeman	ground	134	113	99	4
571	Hodgeman	ground	132	109	75	3
45009	Hodgeman	ground	130	80	128	0
67400	Hodgeman	ground	130	93	114	12
32497	Hodgeman	ground	130	106	200	6
86776	Hodgeman	ground	129	73	120	28
71511	Hodgeman	ground	127	83	0	16
84213	Hodgeman	ground	124	106	153	25
72831	Hodgeman	ground	119	91	147	16
83727	Hodgeman	ground	119	86	74	24
77962	Hodgeman	ground	118	121	111	20
3467	Hodgeman	ground	116	76	70	0
72303	Hodgeman	ground	115	38	110	16
42123	Hodgeman	ground	114	65	88	0
71231	Hodgeman	ground	113	60	0	15
71726	Hodgeman	ground	112	69	120	15
4422	Hodgeman	ground	110	110	120	13
5641	Hodgeman	ground	110	72	60	1
21399	Hodgeman	ground	109	136	0	3
5790	Hodgeman	ground	104	74	110	11
32133	Hodgeman	ground	104	74	65	1
54503	Hodgeman	ground	104	91	63	1
34466	Hodgeman	ground	103	45	82	1
79162	Hodgeman	ground	103	71	120	21
34656	Hodgeman	ground	102	125	101	0
23015	Hodgeman	ground	100	46	125	3
67572	Hodgeman	ground	98	56	60	12
9525	Hodgeman	ground	98	73	96	0
5198	Hodgeman	ground	97	86	67	3
8278	Hodgeman	ground	97	76	141	1
70372	Hodgeman	ground	96	77	64	14
18692	Hodgeman	ground	95	75	176	1
80347	Hodgeman	ground	95	66	111	22
88278	Hodgeman	ground	95	34	60	30
71062	Hodgeman	ground	94	43	123	14
19929	Hodgeman	ground	91	82	35	3
43456	Hodgeman	ground	91	70	110	1
86152	Hodgeman	ground	91	40	62	27
22250	Hodgeman	ground	90	95	90	1
83133	Hodgeman	ground	89	52	30	24
3367	Hodgeman	ground	89	81	31	0
51128	Hodgeman	ground	89	60	59	1
52011	Hodgeman	ground	89	75	65	0
24208	Hodgeman	ground	88	115	93	4
49542	Hodgeman	ground	88	63	143	2
22385	Hodgeman	ground	88	90	174	3

Counties with a comparable file

Meade 967
Sheridan 961
Barton 902
Norton 812
Sumner 785
Rice 752
Republic 721
Cloud 685
Cheyenne 676
Washington 663
Clay 654
Phillips 637
Pottawatomie 636

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.