Water use in Stafford County

1,121 points of diversion — 1.9% of the Kansas file — reporting 92,560 acre-feet in 2023.

1,121Points

92,5602023, acre-feet

85,579Acres irrigated

740Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Stafford County

Reported use here peaked in 2011 at 134,880 acre-feet and bottomed in 1993 at 63,372. 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 94,223 acre-feet a year against 88,764 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 676 to 740: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Stafford 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	109,660	77,719	676
1991	113,293	78,445	681
1992	69,515	77,325	676
1993	63,372	76,489	665
1994	111,502	79,481	685
1995	89,184	77,029	659
1996	83,271	79,552	692
1997	63,515	80,821	688
1998	98,035	82,197	714
1999	86,292	82,594	718
2000	102,884	82,419	721
2001	102,315	82,768	724
2002	115,146	83,244	729
2003	109,349	82,454	722
2004	79,170	82,160	718
2005	89,743	82,229	722
2006	100,978	83,300	732
2007	74,231	82,279	722
2008	77,592	82,024	722
2009	80,717	82,605	730
2010	106,760	82,881	737
2011	134,880	83,207	740
2012	112,774	83,233	735
2013	82,078	83,132	735
2014	85,945	84,196	741
2015	101,227	84,168	742
2016	81,305	83,895	745
2017	94,597	83,508	739
2018	87,288	82,995	744
2019	87,707	83,883	745
2020	85,651	82,694	748
2021	100,599	83,415	742
2022	125,353	82,979	743
2023	92,560	85,579	740

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	1,108	98.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	13	1.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Big Bend GMD 5	1,121	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

381 of the 1,121 points in Stafford County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 586 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 Stafford County?

1,121 points of diversion sit in Stafford County, reporting 92,560 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

Stafford 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
28295	Stafford	surface	1,260	1,931	0	1
74357	Stafford	ground	292	282	0	18
53721	Stafford	ground	258	263	254	0
39339	Stafford	ground	246	168	130	0
87978	Stafford	ground	239	78	120	30
19170	Stafford	ground	239	217	135	3
84188	Stafford	ground	235	199	188	25
39459	Stafford	ground	235	179	160	1
82542	Stafford	ground	235	222	130	24
90233	Stafford	ground	227	23	171	33
15490	Stafford	ground	225	202	231	0
81228	Stafford	ground	224	147	170	23
53439	Stafford	ground	219	199	130	0
84542	Stafford	ground	219	162	160	25
26759	Stafford	ground	218	200	175	23
3755	Stafford	ground	217	182	120	0
44492	Stafford	ground	216	194	200	0
48486	Stafford	ground	216	191	130	0
89497	Stafford	ground	214	38	130	32
87723	Stafford	ground	211	117	160	29
87459	Stafford	ground	210	102	181	29
52595	Stafford	ground	210	139	131	1
30399	Stafford	ground	209	150	125	0
2831	Stafford	ground	207	167	130	0
17539	Stafford	ground	207	149	128	0
18812	Stafford	ground	203	186	132	0
29576	Stafford	ground	203	181	195	0
51808	Stafford	ground	202	197	130	0
25635	Stafford	ground	202	161	130	0
9208	Stafford	ground	200	150	110	0
50539	Stafford	ground	199	162	128	0
45021	Stafford	ground	199	176	131	0
86681	Stafford	ground	199	100	130	28
52581	Stafford	ground	197	157	130	0
64791	Stafford	ground	196	186	140	10
77515	Stafford	ground	196	162	160	20
84431	Stafford	ground	196	125	120	25
90587	Stafford	ground	195	20	130	33
74006	Stafford	ground	195	158	130	17
246	Stafford	ground	195	184	130	0
8582	Stafford	ground	195	172	130	1
35887	Stafford	ground	194	161	130	0
23031	Stafford	ground	194	170	130	0
2536	Stafford	ground	194	136	120	0
5979	Stafford	ground	194	171	130	0
9387	Stafford	ground	194	175	131	0
13469	Stafford	ground	194	174	130	0
23168	Stafford	ground	194	173	144	0
34805	Stafford	ground	194	163	130	0
35280	Stafford	ground	194	160	161	0
44237	Stafford	ground	194	168	130	0
39134	Stafford	ground	194	150	124	0
49424	Stafford	ground	194	173	130	0
53478	Stafford	ground	193	163	130	0
72041	Stafford	ground	193	162	130	16
19069	Stafford	ground	193	171	131	0
38038	Stafford	ground	193	153	131	1
24065	Stafford	ground	193	167	128	0
920	Stafford	ground	193	163	130	0
54130	Stafford	ground	193	154	130	0
8551	Stafford	ground	192	169	122	0
89241	Stafford	ground	192	41	140	32
48966	Stafford	ground	192	157	130	6
35999	Stafford	ground	192	168	130	0
11958	Stafford	ground	192	139	130	1
13875	Stafford	ground	191	167	128	1
51183	Stafford	ground	191	158	120	0
78587	Stafford	ground	191	147	130	21
53754	Stafford	ground	191	175	120	0
11759	Stafford	ground	190	172	125	0
89922	Stafford	ground	190	19	130	33
5365	Stafford	ground	189	151	126	0
54776	Stafford	ground	189	169	128	0
79221	Stafford	ground	189	180	130	21
28850	Stafford	ground	189	174	125	0
46514	Stafford	ground	189	172	130	0
38379	Stafford	ground	189	178	128	1
53530	Stafford	ground	188	121	130	1
17298	Stafford	ground	188	165	131	6
18468	Stafford	ground	188	143	170	0
5659	Stafford	ground	188	173	140	2
41745	Stafford	ground	188	131	130	2
48906	Stafford	ground	187	179	130	1
9792	Stafford	ground	187	131	153	0
37681	Stafford	ground	186	169	130	1
51712	Stafford	ground	186	154	130	0
5270	Stafford	ground	186	148	131	0
20062	Stafford	ground	186	175	130	0
44658	Stafford	ground	186	144	130	2
68861	Stafford	ground	186	106	130	13
52762	Stafford	ground	185	169	130	1
50494	Stafford	ground	185	171	130	0
52934	Stafford	ground	185	125	118	1
83097	Stafford	ground	185	177	130	24
28210	Stafford	ground	184	139	130	0
48674	Stafford	ground	184	164	130	0
33217	Stafford	ground	184	175	131	0
50283	Stafford	ground	184	155	130	1
28732	Stafford	ground	184	171	122	0
18305	Stafford	ground	183	149	117	0
52891	Stafford	ground	183	129	130	0
15947	Stafford	ground	183	154	128	0
25190	Stafford	ground	183	160	130	0
36692	Stafford	ground	183	159	130	0
35035	Stafford	ground	183	157	135	0
82658	Stafford	ground	182	131	140	24
23543	Stafford	ground	182	148	130	0
51355	Stafford	ground	182	171	130	0
31866	Stafford	ground	182	149	150	1
31477	Stafford	ground	182	194	130	0
48573	Stafford	ground	182	141	128	0
6201	Stafford	ground	181	174	130	0
4165	Stafford	ground	181	149	130	0
18630	Stafford	ground	181	185	119	0
80925	Stafford	ground	180	158	130	22
87460	Stafford	ground	179	86	136	29
80768	Stafford	ground	179	148	130	22
10465	Stafford	ground	178	152	130	3
44716	Stafford	ground	178	141	1,163	1
13312	Stafford	ground	178	159	122	0

Counties with a comparable file

Ford 1,506
Pawnee 1,365
Kearny 1,364
Edwards 1,258
Stevens 1,256
Wichita 1,194
Scott 1,178
Mcpherson 1,113
Grant 1,103
Stanton 1,064
Sherman 1,019
Pratt 1,015
Seward 1,005

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.