Water use in Pottawatomie County

636 points of diversion — 1.1% of the Kansas file — reporting 35,339 acre-feet in 2023.

636Points

35,3392023, acre-feet

18,613Acres irrigated

237Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Pottawatomie County

Reported use here peaked in 2012 at 54,765 acre-feet and bottomed in 2004 at 17,946. 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 35,573 acre-feet a year against 38,193 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 183 to 237: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Pottawatomie 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	36,368	11,189	183
1991	40,267	12,311	184
1992	34,535	9,942	173
1993	35,154	3,347	100
1994	36,987	13,259	194
1995	42,885	13,079	190
1996	49,066	13,648	200
1997	44,366	14,150	203
1998	24,609	14,905	213
1999	37,693	15,219	213
2000	34,377	15,276	217
2001	27,316	15,140	212
2002	25,191	16,469	221
2003	24,804	16,720	223
2004	17,946	14,387	200
2005	25,530	17,182	230
2006	24,659	17,317	231
2007	19,684	16,283	219
2008	26,482	14,370	195
2009	22,192	11,541	167
2010	41,034	15,624	211
2011	47,727	17,828	238
2012	54,765	17,883	238
2013	43,516	18,189	242
2014	44,739	18,192	240
2015	33,065	15,692	202
2016	32,499	17,044	229
2017	41,869	18,592	245
2018	37,543	18,050	245
2019	28,623	14,486	216
2020	29,503	17,727	231
2021	38,144	18,322	236
2022	34,407	17,546	233
2023	35,339	18,613	237

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	431	67.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	205	32.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Outside any district	636	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

399 of the 636 points in Pottawatomie County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 519 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 Pottawatomie County?

636 points of diversion sit in Pottawatomie County, reporting 35,339 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

Pottawatomie 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
51329	Pottawatomie	surface	16,317	21,009	0	7
86529	Pottawatomie	surface	1,490	596	0	29
48083	Pottawatomie	surface	1,337	668	0	11
1749	Pottawatomie	ground	1,034	831	0	0
30934	Pottawatomie	ground	786	610	0	0
88335	Pottawatomie	ground	571	88	0	32
22132	Pottawatomie	ground	527	488	0	0
90563	Pottawatomie	ground	462	46	0	33
60798	Pottawatomie	ground	355	296	0	11
7170	Pottawatomie	ground	346	222	0	3
40428	Pottawatomie	ground	328	183	0	1
14515	Pottawatomie	ground	317	222	0	3
23066	Pottawatomie	ground	277	188	0	0
13693	Pottawatomie	ground	257	163	0	0
14405	Pottawatomie	ground	204	112	0	0
276	Pottawatomie	ground	184	92	263	9
31204	Pottawatomie	ground	182	120	0	24
36583	Pottawatomie	ground	169	89	189	1
66683	Pottawatomie	surface	155	182	279	12
63529	Pottawatomie	ground	149	147	0	14
60154	Pottawatomie	ground	147	113	0	7
9944	Pottawatomie	ground	146	66	0	24
81029	Pottawatomie	ground	140	156	228	23
44413	Pottawatomie	ground	136	144	0	5
37448	Pottawatomie	ground	130	87	186	1
66204	Pottawatomie	ground	127	115	0	15
67373	Pottawatomie	ground	126	101	0	14
72545	Pottawatomie	ground	125	136	0	17
86278	Pottawatomie	ground	119	57	136	28
53647	Pottawatomie	ground	118	47	110	0
88756	Pottawatomie	ground	114	22	234	31
72835	Pottawatomie	ground	113	777	0	18
2665	Pottawatomie	ground	111	60	140	4
17526	Pottawatomie	ground	110	56	249	1
43830	Pottawatomie	ground	110	62	134	7
63736	Pottawatomie	ground	108	166	0	14
79191	Pottawatomie	surface	108	91	281	23
2288	Pottawatomie	ground	107	60	145	1
2789	Pottawatomie	ground	106	115	220	0
21030	Pottawatomie	ground	106	100	0	0
13923	Pottawatomie	ground	102	72	152	1
48360	Pottawatomie	ground	101	59	145	2
18498	Pottawatomie	ground	99	81	191	0
6747	Pottawatomie	ground	98	95	0	0
86721	Pottawatomie	surface	97	40	0	28
51137	Pottawatomie	ground	97	73	136	1
10298	Pottawatomie	ground	97	54	156	5
42462	Pottawatomie	ground	96	92	185	0
22442	Pottawatomie	surface	94	53	180	25
30205	Pottawatomie	ground	92	72	125	4
60331	Pottawatomie	surface	89	55	165	7
61610	Pottawatomie	surface	89	95	235	8
83695	Pottawatomie	ground	88	76	130	24
51392	Pottawatomie	ground	88	56	128	4
10721	Pottawatomie	ground	87	70	130	1
60319	Pottawatomie	ground	85	55	155	8
5025	Pottawatomie	ground	84	67	221	5
5094	Pottawatomie	surface	82	76	295	4
72544	Pottawatomie	ground	82	106	0	17
45433	Pottawatomie	ground	81	55	100	1
89584	Pottawatomie	ground	80	16	133	32
21444	Pottawatomie	ground	79	59	160	5
84635	Pottawatomie	ground	79	47	134	26
33230	Pottawatomie	ground	78	34	77	2
67968	Pottawatomie	ground	77	54	139	13
15044	Pottawatomie	ground	77	64	80	2
68609	Pottawatomie	ground	74	53	144	13
41065	Pottawatomie	ground	74	59	200	6
52564	Pottawatomie	ground	72	44	180	2
75098	Pottawatomie	ground	70	43	88	18
89907	Pottawatomie	surface	69	14	250	32
86274	Pottawatomie	ground	68	27	83	27
17764	Pottawatomie	ground	68	70	125	1
11537	Pottawatomie	ground	67	51	104	1
67163	Pottawatomie	ground	67	29	135	12
49410	Pottawatomie	ground	66	58	132	2
49442	Pottawatomie	ground	65	48	130	1
87671	Pottawatomie	ground	64	6	0	33
40379	Pottawatomie	ground	62	68	0	0
60180	Pottawatomie	ground	61	37	120	7
81030	Pottawatomie	ground	61	56	85	23
25014	Pottawatomie	ground	60	47	118	0
72947	Pottawatomie	ground	60	30	93	20
54593	Pottawatomie	ground	60	40	126	2
32067	Pottawatomie	ground	59	39	80	3
50612	Pottawatomie	surface	58	28	226	7
54538	Pottawatomie	ground	57	28	54	1
3708	Pottawatomie	ground	57	38	125	1
67148	Pottawatomie	ground	57	39	123	13
69660	Pottawatomie	surface	55	35	323	14
20178	Pottawatomie	ground	55	59	125	1
85877	Pottawatomie	ground	55	29	70	27
45622	Pottawatomie	ground	55	32	135	2
27528	Pottawatomie	ground	54	35	135	2
42279	Pottawatomie	ground	54	42	70	6
23248	Pottawatomie	ground	54	43	155	7
73552	Pottawatomie	ground	53	35	55	20
2963	Pottawatomie	ground	52	58	152	1
78141	Pottawatomie	ground	52	35	120	21
68370	Pottawatomie	ground	50	32	59	14
68802	Pottawatomie	ground	49	49	0	15
25262	Pottawatomie	ground	49	42	130	1
68801	Pottawatomie	ground	48	43	0	15
44586	Pottawatomie	ground	48	31	135	4
22260	Pottawatomie	ground	48	44	106	4
15352	Pottawatomie	ground	48	35	135	2
41072	Pottawatomie	ground	48	30	239	6
76102	Pottawatomie	ground	48	52	152	19
73788	Pottawatomie	ground	48	36	128	17
82587	Pottawatomie	ground	47	27	120	24
83972	Pottawatomie	ground	47	25	54	25
39533	Pottawatomie	ground	45	52	160	1
21439	Pottawatomie	ground	44	17	66	3
69047	Pottawatomie	ground	44	51	125	15
60318	Pottawatomie	ground	44	29	76	12
54598	Pottawatomie	ground	43	32	130	0
54501	Pottawatomie	ground	43	40	200	0
24617	Pottawatomie	ground	42	39	0	0
69926	Pottawatomie	ground	41	19	55	15
69746	Pottawatomie	ground	41	29	130	14

By source in Pottawatomie County

Counties with a comparable file

Republic 721
Hodgeman 700
Cloud 685
Cheyenne 676
Washington 663
Clay 654
Phillips 637
Wallace 621
Morton 601
Shawnee 601
Kingman 599
Rush 558
Gove 554

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.