Water use in Mcpherson County

1,113 points of diversion — 1.9% of the Kansas file — reporting 44,296 acre-feet in 2023.

1,113Points

44,2962023, acre-feet

39,633Acres irrigated

462Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Mcpherson County

Reported use here peaked in 2011 at 53,484 acre-feet and bottomed in 1992 at 20,245. 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 37,457 acre-feet a year against 33,560 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 410 to 462: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Mcpherson 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	42,694	28,870	410
1991	45,970	30,435	417
1992	20,245	27,899	376
1993	21,003	25,144	333
1994	40,058	29,567	399
1995	32,512	28,507	379
1996	33,953	30,852	407
1997	31,425	31,536	407
1998	36,814	32,890	407
1999	30,932	32,586	405
2000	38,451	33,088	409
2001	44,769	33,306	423
2002	45,755	34,588	434
2003	48,422	34,290	429
2004	31,841	33,669	414
2005	38,364	34,530	426
2006	46,416	34,433	424
2007	32,140	33,990	417
2008	28,564	34,519	423
2009	32,880	33,402	412
2010	35,858	34,490	427
2011	53,484	35,440	444
2012	51,130	36,236	451
2013	30,009	35,274	415
2014	37,897	36,378	449
2015	36,378	36,905	456
2016	26,893	36,125	444
2017	41,707	38,887	459
2018	31,924	37,316	469
2019	33,341	38,311	459
2020	35,411	38,173	467
2021	37,938	39,278	470
2022	48,787	38,465	474
2023	44,296	39,633	462

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	891	80.1%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	222	19.9%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Equus Beds GMD 2	699	62.8%
Outside any district	414	37.2%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

651 of the 1,113 points in Mcpherson County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 841 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 Mcpherson County?

1,113 points of diversion sit in Mcpherson County, reporting 44,296 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

Mcpherson 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
69379	Mcpherson	ground	1,102	517	0	14
84477	Mcpherson	ground	1,004	529	0	27
73115	Mcpherson	ground	955	1,446	0	16
76374	Mcpherson	ground	574	386	0	21
47017	Mcpherson	ground	466	196	0	0
36384	Mcpherson	ground	397	403	0	0
6361	Mcpherson	ground	391	366	0	0
11950	Mcpherson	ground	385	357	0	0
14775	Mcpherson	ground	360	437	0	0
49380	Mcpherson	ground	308	277	0	0
79285	Mcpherson	ground	291	173	281	23
19193	Mcpherson	ground	290	199	266	0
53707	Mcpherson	ground	275	301	0	0
76731	Mcpherson	ground	259	195	203	19
86261	Mcpherson	ground	255	161	248	27
87441	Mcpherson	ground	238	104	216	29
36056	Mcpherson	ground	235	285	0	0
39743	Mcpherson	ground	232	149	155	0
22366	Mcpherson	ground	228	159	372	2
9827	Mcpherson	ground	221	157	0	6
46056	Mcpherson	ground	216	171	190	0
37853	Mcpherson	ground	216	116	130	0
24873	Mcpherson	ground	215	153	175	0
67210	Mcpherson	ground	213	145	154	12
69515	Mcpherson	ground	213	181	241	15
50453	Mcpherson	ground	211	130	151	0
54724	Mcpherson	ground	211	161	165	0
30406	Mcpherson	ground	211	158	206	0
27452	Mcpherson	ground	203	111	130	0
37872	Mcpherson	ground	198	176	223	2
3459	Mcpherson	ground	198	155	150	0
21131	Mcpherson	ground	194	134	125	1
39521	Mcpherson	ground	192	167	143	0
38843	Mcpherson	ground	190	131	125	1
10938	Mcpherson	ground	189	122	130	7
15728	Mcpherson	ground	189	143	0	0
10281	Mcpherson	ground	187	120	200	2
1877	Mcpherson	ground	186	158	138	0
35463	Mcpherson	ground	186	136	120	1
7050	Mcpherson	ground	184	162	162	0
35284	Mcpherson	ground	181	135	156	0
85727	Mcpherson	ground	180	108	150	26
3368	Mcpherson	ground	180	126	144	0
49921	Mcpherson	ground	178	179	0	0
29519	Mcpherson	ground	178	114	135	1
28895	Mcpherson	surface	177	110	0	5
175	Mcpherson	ground	176	140	125	1
23211	Mcpherson	ground	176	147	145	0
11886	Mcpherson	ground	176	138	0	0
23007	Mcpherson	ground	175	126	150	0
20811	Mcpherson	ground	174	131	131	0
14244	Mcpherson	ground	173	253	0	0
21085	Mcpherson	ground	172	161	150	0
36909	Mcpherson	ground	171	133	135	0
89254	Mcpherson	ground	170	38	154	32
61500	Mcpherson	ground	169	134	129	8
18557	Mcpherson	ground	168	127	0	1
52329	Mcpherson	ground	167	126	0	6
41407	Mcpherson	ground	164	119	133	0
50216	Mcpherson	ground	164	106	132	0
4241	Mcpherson	ground	163	109	120	0
34076	Mcpherson	ground	163	118	120	0
43904	Mcpherson	ground	161	116	128	0
85275	Mcpherson	ground	161	94	125	26
14506	Mcpherson	ground	159	126	146	5
28385	Mcpherson	ground	159	106	137	0
10168	Mcpherson	ground	158	111	145	0
21318	Mcpherson	ground	158	143	155	6
86636	Mcpherson	ground	158	66	130	28
1266	Mcpherson	ground	157	126	126	0
76189	Mcpherson	ground	157	130	291	19
41962	Mcpherson	ground	157	90	130	0
71386	Mcpherson	ground	155	95	109	15
41823	Mcpherson	ground	153	111	127	0
71962	Mcpherson	ground	153	116	106	15
9056	Mcpherson	ground	151	114	136	0
25178	Mcpherson	ground	150	105	135	0
30751	Mcpherson	ground	148	128	130	0
62200	Mcpherson	ground	148	101	132	8
60774	Mcpherson	ground	148	110	124	7
9226	Mcpherson	ground	147	108	128	6
62068	Mcpherson	ground	144	104	130	9
45911	Mcpherson	ground	142	102	122	0
9605	Mcpherson	ground	142	145	170	0
48457	Mcpherson	ground	141	118	145	0
76896	Mcpherson	ground	141	113	134	19
49981	Mcpherson	ground	139	53	121	2
41520	Mcpherson	ground	138	131	129	4
33578	Mcpherson	ground	138	129	145	0
43774	Mcpherson	ground	138	89	124	0
20878	Mcpherson	ground	135	118	120	0
21289	Mcpherson	ground	134	106	132	6
36898	Mcpherson	ground	134	122	112	0
61262	Mcpherson	ground	134	93	110	9
79097	Mcpherson	ground	134	116	148	21
40389	Mcpherson	ground	132	103	130	0
5580	Mcpherson	ground	132	107	112	0
61242	Mcpherson	ground	131	83	130	8
1283	Mcpherson	ground	131	122	136	1
11940	Mcpherson	ground	130	119	119	1
16100	Mcpherson	ground	130	109	135	0
24661	Mcpherson	ground	129	96	100	0
38937	Mcpherson	ground	128	89	160	0
15910	Mcpherson	ground	127	123	130	2
4214	Mcpherson	ground	126	108	125	0
10590	Mcpherson	ground	126	113	192	0
54528	Mcpherson	ground	126	65	130	1
23772	Mcpherson	ground	126	85	120	0
25240	Mcpherson	ground	126	105	131	0
4006	Mcpherson	ground	125	95	120	5
8865	Mcpherson	ground	124	110	135	0
32325	Mcpherson	ground	124	113	136	1
41969	Mcpherson	ground	124	83	114	0
16685	Mcpherson	ground	124	124	130	1
1228	Mcpherson	ground	123	68	117	0
2689	Mcpherson	ground	123	76	110	1
12172	Mcpherson	ground	123	115	130	0
81709	Mcpherson	ground	123	88	110	23
76304	Mcpherson	ground	122	106	131	19
8376	Mcpherson	ground	122	58	0	3

By source in Mcpherson County

surface water — a river, stream or reservoir — Mcpherson County 222

Counties with a comparable file

Pawnee 1,365
Kearny 1,364
Edwards 1,258
Stevens 1,256
Wichita 1,194
Scott 1,178
Stafford 1,121
Grant 1,103
Stanton 1,064
Sherman 1,019
Pratt 1,015
Seward 1,005
Thomas 995

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.