Water use in Stevens County

1,256 points of diversion — 2.1% of the Kansas file — reporting 207,511 acre-feet in 2023.

1,256Points

207,5112023, acre-feet

172,717Acres irrigated

699Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Stevens County

Reported use here peaked in 2011 at 299,757 acre-feet and bottomed in 2017 at 176,466. 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 218,363 acre-feet a year against 214,944 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 568 to 699: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Stevens 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	235,107	136,427	568
1991	238,435	137,515	572
1992	228,311	140,862	564
1993	182,090	136,878	572
1994	208,520	138,311	594
1995	210,842	142,336	593
1996	214,740	142,169	603
1997	210,442	159,254	654
1998	220,071	163,434	671
1999	200,884	170,491	684
2000	241,749	172,887	705
2001	218,204	170,047	704
2002	290,040	175,905	711
2003	209,568	171,861	717
2004	198,976	171,761	723
2005	183,521	170,849	719
2006	225,348	171,156	719
2007	213,478	174,430	722
2008	249,667	174,475	719
2009	231,148	175,906	724
2010	221,512	172,886	712
2011	299,757	171,868	714
2012	267,394	170,630	714
2013	256,136	175,624	710
2014	252,689	175,999	712
2015	208,655	177,278	711
2016	212,601	174,794	702
2017	176,466	174,146	694
2018	201,296	163,927	701
2019	188,688	171,702	702
2020	239,005	172,168	708
2021	227,695	176,002	695
2022	269,025	170,857	700
2023	207,511	172,717	699

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	1,254	99.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	2	0.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Southwest Kansas GMD 3	1,256	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

557 of the 1,256 points in Stevens County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 907 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 Stevens County?

1,256 points of diversion sit in Stevens County, reporting 207,511 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

Stevens 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
85661	Stevens	ground	1,038	573	747	26
51829	Stevens	ground	908	963	625	5
69711	Stevens	ground	882	876	480	20
60342	Stevens	ground	873	751	480	7
78050	Stevens	ground	866	861	488	20
30927	Stevens	ground	859	706	504	0
76576	Stevens	ground	786	575	495	19
86891	Stevens	ground	771	475	518	28
14082	Stevens	ground	760	666	360	1
43136	Stevens	ground	747	311	480	1
81059	Stevens	ground	738	470	330	23
35106	Stevens	ground	721	681	500	6
36419	Stevens	ground	721	692	470	0
62112	Stevens	ground	691	743	512	9
68705	Stevens	ground	674	876	500	13
60986	Stevens	ground	663	618	488	8
49440	Stevens	ground	655	634	528	0
61973	Stevens	ground	655	618	375	8
68225	Stevens	ground	654	513	875	13
36717	Stevens	ground	653	690	400	0
9966	Stevens	ground	647	693	480	1
18852	Stevens	ground	647	558	625	0
85290	Stevens	ground	641	500	495	26
47961	Stevens	ground	637	593	598	5
31425	Stevens	ground	636	494	330	0
49612	Stevens	ground	632	528	360	8
14594	Stevens	ground	623	542	610	0
36894	Stevens	ground	623	797	494	0
75271	Stevens	ground	622	587	488	18
12836	Stevens	ground	621	781	452	1
89586	Stevens	ground	616	122	330	32
89108	Stevens	ground	612	175	377	31
81060	Stevens	ground	610	542	330	23
83119	Stevens	ground	610	611	544	24
4582	Stevens	ground	605	560	475	8
25529	Stevens	ground	604	674	366	7
75820	Stevens	ground	600	518	488	18
60945	Stevens	ground	599	637	490	8
3187	Stevens	ground	597	520	360	4
69651	Stevens	ground	597	577	369	14
78049	Stevens	ground	597	476	599	20
8733	Stevens	ground	596	577	345	3
26363	Stevens	ground	593	486	361	7
89790	Stevens	ground	591	138	375	32
32319	Stevens	ground	589	546	480	7
41720	Stevens	ground	585	481	330	0
60525	Stevens	ground	585	595	366	8
60422	Stevens	ground	572	750	488	7
62630	Stevens	ground	564	560	426	9
63204	Stevens	ground	563	447	0	15
64237	Stevens	ground	562	572	366	12
60252	Stevens	ground	552	736	470	8
45950	Stevens	ground	550	652	366	0
88575	Stevens	ground	547	182	410	31
43776	Stevens	ground	544	473	375	6
45900	Stevens	ground	543	478	250	0
23742	Stevens	ground	542	568	483	0
40093	Stevens	ground	541	406	230	1
41953	Stevens	ground	540	495	500	5
64684	Stevens	ground	537	607	475	10
28814	Stevens	ground	534	574	445	6
71434	Stevens	ground	533	176	320	15
54398	Stevens	ground	532	541	408	0
52514	Stevens	ground	530	571	366	0
62382	Stevens	ground	530	462	414	9
70163	Stevens	ground	530	604	366	14
8753	Stevens	ground	527	466	250	1
8889	Stevens	ground	527	605	366	7
33651	Stevens	ground	527	557	375	1
83140	Stevens	ground	526	442	315	24
51231	Stevens	ground	523	573	375	7
77573	Stevens	ground	523	582	315	20
61735	Stevens	ground	520	553	500	11
27251	Stevens	ground	519	450	236	0
28523	Stevens	ground	518	438	300	1
49393	Stevens	ground	516	462	320	0
77574	Stevens	ground	516	490	310	20
27693	Stevens	ground	514	508	305	7
62136	Stevens	ground	514	485	366	10
33500	Stevens	ground	512	535	488	8
45298	Stevens	ground	510	535	366	2
24649	Stevens	ground	509	521	454	0
67541	Stevens	ground	507	537	488	13
38243	Stevens	ground	506	406	242	0
68372	Stevens	ground	506	674	416	14
73793	Stevens	ground	506	597	311	17
27451	Stevens	ground	504	461	350	0
37029	Stevens	ground	502	438	320	0
43521	Stevens	ground	502	507	500	0
25308	Stevens	ground	499	381	250	0
69708	Stevens	ground	499	583	400	22
40776	Stevens	ground	496	476	375	0
47336	Stevens	ground	493	472	250	7
31001	Stevens	ground	492	392	330	8
5419	Stevens	ground	490	341	244	0
80545	Stevens	ground	490	416	250	22
62946	Stevens	ground	489	559	366	9
14066	Stevens	ground	488	493	366	6
76427	Stevens	ground	485	332	433	19
64786	Stevens	ground	483	557	300	10
77807	Stevens	ground	483	513	375	20
46652	Stevens	ground	481	441	492	1
77941	Stevens	ground	481	345	244	20
75352	Stevens	ground	480	502	422	18
3424	Stevens	ground	476	475	244	0
84556	Stevens	ground	475	414	272	25
29569	Stevens	ground	474	402	250	0
39553	Stevens	ground	473	535	250	1
66455	Stevens	ground	473	442	244	14
45185	Stevens	ground	471	374	248	1
67969	Stevens	ground	471	474	370	13
15317	Stevens	ground	469	627	366	0
290	Stevens	ground	468	451	320	0
46994	Stevens	ground	467	396	260	3
40413	Stevens	ground	466	491	244	2
28051	Stevens	ground	464	443	250	0
49051	Stevens	ground	463	481	375	0
90039	Stevens	ground	456	46	319	33
31413	Stevens	ground	456	437	250	0
66637	Stevens	ground	455	423	250	11

Counties with a comparable file

Gray 2,214
Reno 1,990
Haskell 1,667
Ford 1,506
Pawnee 1,365
Kearny 1,364
Edwards 1,258
Wichita 1,194
Scott 1,178
Stafford 1,121
Mcpherson 1,113
Grant 1,103
Stanton 1,064

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.