Water use in Norton County

812 points of diversion — 1.4% of the Kansas file — reporting 11,892 acre-feet in 2023.

812Points

11,8922023, acre-feet

15,963Acres irrigated

249Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Norton County

Reported use here peaked in 2002 at 19,932 acre-feet and bottomed in 1993 at 5,539. 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 13,817 acre-feet a year against 13,194 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 185 to 249: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Norton 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	16,033	8,305	185
1991	14,768	8,812	180
1992	6,313	8,108	152
1993	5,539	7,023	156
1994	11,990	7,611	170
1995	16,661	8,228	176
1996	12,280	13,555	161
1997	19,615	14,171	172
1998	14,752	8,275	177
1999	13,990	14,262	168
2000	15,551	9,627	176
2001	16,767	15,238	200
2002	19,932	14,356	220
2003	17,108	13,641	223
2004	15,099	11,266	226
2005	10,543	11,171	222
2006	12,087	11,209	219
2007	11,925	12,671	231
2008	12,346	12,655	220
2009	9,909	11,835	216
2010	14,330	13,145	223
2011	11,993	15,984	210
2012	19,666	14,668	227
2013	16,649	16,258	237
2014	14,497	16,327	242
2015	13,762	15,329	249
2016	13,691	13,476	258
2017	14,462	18,316	270
2018	8,277	13,893	249
2019	11,244	19,964	263
2020	17,231	22,744	268
2021	13,971	16,082	264
2022	19,144	20,521	255
2023	11,892	15,963	249

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	749	92.2%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	63	7.8%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Outside any district	812	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

563 of the 812 points in Norton County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 698 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 Norton County?

812 points of diversion sit in Norton County, reporting 11,892 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

Norton 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
28427	Norton	surface	361	315	0	0
83214	Norton	ground	325	164	210	24
79908	Norton	ground	262	195	240	26
15937	Norton	ground	215	209	249	0
65320	Norton	ground	214	56	240	12
36471	Norton	ground	187	156	129	1
29078	Norton	ground	160	149	111	0
7223	Norton	ground	140	103	140	0
66779	Norton	ground	138	114	395	12
83954	Norton	ground	137	90	125	28
26866	Norton	ground	131	54	113	1
87802	Norton	ground	128	30	350	30
20169	Norton	ground	120	130	274	0
1125	Norton	ground	118	127	132	7
84776	Norton	ground	117	57	108	29
78372	Norton	ground	117	70	130	28
86936	Norton	ground	116	67	103	28
64755	Norton	ground	113	35	116	12
85608	Norton	ground	111	90	125	27
40112	Norton	ground	108	131	126	0
48019	Norton	ground	105	65	118	1
82752	Norton	ground	105	104	90	24
66179	Norton	ground	101	95	124	12
4199	Norton	ground	100	85	122	0
84884	Norton	ground	100	62	274	25
19014	Norton	ground	98	75	96	0
80145	Norton	ground	97	88	91	22
65420	Norton	ground	96	123	124	11
63067	Norton	ground	96	119	240	9
12238	Norton	ground	95	88	100	0
17162	Norton	ground	94	113	80	0
67068	Norton	ground	94	106	124	13
28100	Norton	ground	92	112	120	0
35440	Norton	ground	91	57	0	12
79215	Norton	ground	87	60	176	22
21987	Norton	ground	87	87	90	0
83964	Norton	ground	86	50	91	27
60622	Norton	ground	85	75	132	7
74045	Norton	ground	85	90	110	17
65013	Norton	ground	83	73	130	11
46098	Norton	ground	83	79	31	0
83963	Norton	ground	83	50	87	27
933	Norton	ground	79	86	75	0
64069	Norton	ground	79	73	72	10
16289	Norton	ground	78	128	140	0
2451	Norton	ground	75	39	108	2
13304	Norton	ground	75	43	98	1
82597	Norton	ground	73	68	47	24
83959	Norton	ground	73	62	46	25
70795	Norton	ground	71	76	107	14
82378	Norton	ground	70	71	108	26
85840	Norton	ground	70	45	61	27
22185	Norton	ground	69	46	40	3
24152	Norton	ground	69	38	60	2
4689	Norton	ground	68	62	60	1
20684	Norton	ground	68	72	69	0
76631	Norton	ground	67	40	0	19
469	Norton	ground	66	68	69	1
42626	Norton	ground	66	61	80	1
42628	Norton	ground	66	95	88	0
20336	Norton	ground	65	61	58	2
47906	Norton	ground	65	32	75	1
78609	Norton	ground	65	64	72	21
5900	Norton	ground	64	56	80	4
29159	Norton	ground	64	60	57	4
46679	Norton	ground	64	74	42	2
6729	Norton	ground	63	95	151	0
24359	Norton	ground	63	54	57	0
24832	Norton	ground	63	98	81	0
83961	Norton	ground	61	71	64	26
65710	Norton	ground	61	50	69	11
37020	Norton	ground	59	61	70	1
76640	Norton	ground	58	71	0	20
136	Norton	ground	58	41	64	0
32166	Norton	ground	58	66	91	0
51674	Norton	ground	58	60	60	1
83235	Norton	ground	58	82	75	24
46905	Norton	ground	57	65	65	0
44921	Norton	ground	56	49	60	8
76638	Norton	ground	54	68	0	19
47299	Norton	ground	54	69	62	1
71034	Norton	ground	54	46	80	14
66891	Norton	ground	53	42	78	17
31575	Norton	ground	52	73	47	0
51971	Norton	ground	52	68	93	0
22213	Norton	ground	51	24	25	3
23070	Norton	surface	51	51	90	4
47062	Norton	ground	51	48	44	0
64353	Norton	ground	50	37	0	12
4150	Norton	ground	50	36	60	0
45025	Norton	ground	49	46	75	3
61326	Norton	ground	49	38	44	7
65709	Norton	ground	49	69	56	11
4497	Norton	ground	48	28	42	5
34221	Norton	ground	48	39	40	0
46961	Norton	ground	48	32	55	5
83937	Norton	ground	48	43	82	25
71302	Norton	ground	47	48	55	15
14553	Norton	ground	45	43	27	0
46580	Norton	ground	45	72	65	1
73910	Norton	ground	45	58	78	17
82598	Norton	ground	45	48	29	24
70120	Norton	ground	44	30	233	14
23185	Norton	ground	43	34	29	0
45427	Norton	ground	43	64	56	6
48898	Norton	ground	43	48	82	2
20328	Norton	ground	42	51	50	1
84529	Norton	ground	42	10	88	30
76630	Norton	ground	42	53	0	20
35632	Norton	ground	41	46	60	1
90426	Norton	ground	41	4	83	33
82999	Norton	ground	40	28	61	26
81996	Norton	ground	40	51	74	24
66452	Norton	ground	40	7	0	13
36738	Norton	ground	39	58	55	4
13464	Norton	ground	38	49	50	1
76745	Norton	ground	38	41	53	19
5208	Norton	ground	37	35	32	0
29898	Norton	ground	37	45	42	1
84104	Norton	ground	36	24	62	30

Counties with a comparable file

Pratt 1,015
Seward 1,005
Thomas 995
Harvey 989
Meade 967
Sheridan 961
Barton 902
Sumner 785
Rice 752
Republic 721
Hodgeman 700
Cloud 685
Cheyenne 676

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.