Water use in Morton County

601 points of diversion — 1.0% of the Kansas file — reporting 45,241 acre-feet in 2023.

601Points

45,2412023, acre-feet

42,662Acres irrigated

269Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Morton County

Reported use here peaked in 1990 at 87,354 acre-feet and bottomed in 2005 at 35,495. 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 48,366 acre-feet a year against 66,429 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 290 to 269: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Morton 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	87,354	51,789	290
1991	85,140	50,778	297
1992	75,184	49,648	289
1993	68,209	53,025	293
1994	66,871	52,593	300
1995	62,083	50,104	294
1996	57,733	52,328	304
1997	54,945	52,143	291
1998	56,644	53,212	301
1999	50,131	52,973	305
2000	58,015	52,188	304
2001	46,233	48,428	295
2002	58,901	42,506	300
2003	43,184	43,617	285
2004	42,866	45,183	288
2005	35,495	44,496	284
2006	40,735	43,001	275
2007	44,346	45,886	281
2008	55,898	46,869	300
2009	50,032	46,498	303
2010	52,540	46,527	289
2011	66,885	47,963	293
2012	62,141	49,274	300
2013	57,377	54,195	297
2014	59,777	46,945	300
2015	47,033	45,791	290
2016	51,226	46,199	288
2017	37,342	44,688	281
2018	43,930	41,534	275
2019	38,996	45,455	267
2020	53,985	45,412	271
2021	51,336	46,228	270
2022	54,790	45,186	271
2023	45,241	42,662	269

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	600	99.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	1	0.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Southwest Kansas GMD 3	601	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

332 of the 601 points in Morton County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 440 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 Morton County?

601 points of diversion sit in Morton County, reporting 45,241 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

Morton 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
23011	Morton	ground	708	552	485	0
60265	Morton	ground	560	535	500	8
635	Morton	ground	548	473	353	0
70270	Morton	ground	533	382	381	14
37026	Morton	ground	524	463	320	5
50776	Morton	ground	503	461	410	6
75484	Morton	ground	488	338	349	18
72574	Morton	ground	476	484	480	16
3431	Morton	ground	463	465	521	0
13572	Morton	ground	454	379	366	1
15162	Morton	ground	454	466	323	1
76761	Morton	ground	449	454	480	19
39678	Morton	ground	441	449	240	0
22693	Morton	ground	409	598	246	0
26108	Morton	ground	407	108	490	6
47103	Morton	ground	397	405	435	4
21997	Morton	ground	391	421	248	0
4270	Morton	ground	384	309	244	0
26982	Morton	ground	379	320	248	0
12457	Morton	ground	366	317	240	2
20857	Morton	ground	365	357	246	1
78274	Morton	ground	364	315	301	21
47297	Morton	ground	363	362	360	1
53966	Morton	ground	352	327	240	2
48691	Morton	ground	346	249	287	0
30969	Morton	ground	345	262	250	0
82241	Morton	ground	338	397	240	23
25052	Morton	ground	337	314	250	1
66019	Morton	ground	335	283	246	11
13766	Morton	ground	332	303	246	1
14887	Morton	ground	325	310	250	1
9125	Morton	ground	320	234	244	0
3676	Morton	ground	318	302	240	1
36278	Morton	ground	313	101	380	17
83192	Morton	ground	311	285	240	24
51620	Morton	ground	306	285	290	7
67574	Morton	ground	303	261	230	12
42925	Morton	ground	301	361	244	1
52527	Morton	ground	300	363	181	1
28242	Morton	ground	296	292	250	21
29367	Morton	ground	295	302	366	1
28548	Morton	ground	290	219	297	1
83507	Morton	ground	290	244	240	24
83091	Morton	ground	286	246	240	24
2641	Morton	ground	280	324	160	0
77356	Morton	ground	278	260	330	20
82501	Morton	ground	272	254	360	23
44062	Morton	ground	267	273	120	8
48690	Morton	ground	263	272	240	0
25919	Morton	ground	261	248	244	1
1640	Morton	ground	259	269	239	0
19932	Morton	ground	258	217	150	1
64521	Morton	ground	258	222	250	10
78502	Morton	ground	256	255	390	21
66976	Morton	ground	255	257	246	16
25439	Morton	ground	252	211	125	0
29672	Morton	ground	251	291	209	4
87028	Morton	ground	250	124	120	28
1121	Morton	ground	248	247	294	2
13378	Morton	ground	248	224	122	9
35734	Morton	ground	247	212	124	1
69884	Morton	ground	244	237	245	14
36979	Morton	ground	242	220	128	0
90213	Morton	ground	242	24	200	33
3382	Morton	ground	241	293	235	1
39007	Morton	ground	238	269	185	1
43194	Morton	ground	237	278	244	8
1500	Morton	ground	237	237	122	0
5693	Morton	ground	237	115	130	3
83198	Morton	ground	237	265	250	24
35157	Morton	ground	236	308	260	0
39168	Morton	ground	236	192	122	8
67303	Morton	ground	236	336	253	13
83215	Morton	ground	236	252	130	24
35823	Morton	ground	234	222	250	0
40719	Morton	ground	233	277	0	0
88220	Morton	ground	233	33	0	32
14541	Morton	ground	232	185	165	0
36663	Morton	ground	231	177	191	1
32888	Morton	ground	226	217	188	0
36458	Morton	ground	226	236	244	1
60053	Morton	ground	226	271	145	7
28616	Morton	ground	225	282	246	0
5184	Morton	ground	223	255	242	1
61609	Morton	ground	220	227	260	9
12366	Morton	ground	220	212	120	5
13614	Morton	ground	217	224	160	0
9255	Morton	ground	215	296	240	1
68967	Morton	ground	214	237	226	13
63104	Morton	ground	212	254	0	9
5960	Morton	ground	211	266	135	20
61564	Morton	ground	210	194	123	8
67390	Morton	ground	209	203	156	12
81109	Morton	ground	208	202	160	23
3303	Morton	ground	207	186	172	0
39304	Morton	ground	206	207	123	0
60266	Morton	ground	205	304	188	7
19330	Morton	ground	202	219	120	6
17158	Morton	ground	201	192	106	0
60045	Morton	ground	201	65	132	9
66755	Morton	ground	198	219	125	14
78561	Morton	ground	196	233	130	21
29832	Morton	ground	194	209	160	1
88032	Morton	ground	194	61	138	30
84000	Morton	ground	193	218	481	25
52010	Morton	ground	190	178	126	0
26522	Morton	ground	188	180	125	7
30091	Morton	ground	188	167	150	2
74019	Morton	ground	187	213	172	17
85988	Morton	ground	181	136	130	27
54	Morton	ground	179	142	128	3
2217	Morton	ground	179	288	183	1
30584	Morton	ground	178	110	250	9
54429	Morton	ground	176	166	156	5
1807	Morton	ground	175	216	210	0
37743	Morton	ground	175	142	118	2
84005	Morton	ground	171	169	113	25
8652	Morton	ground	170	175	122	1
13062	Morton	ground	168	155	160	0
42066	Morton	ground	167	172	122	0

Counties with a comparable file

Cloud 685
Cheyenne 676
Washington 663
Clay 654
Phillips 637
Pottawatomie 636
Wallace 621
Shawnee 601
Kingman 599
Rush 558
Gove 554
Kiowa 554
Saline 543

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.