Water use in Washington County

663 points of diversion — 1.1% of the Kansas file — reporting 11,095 acre-feet in 2023.

663Points

11,0952023, acre-feet

19,328Acres irrigated

257Reporting use

What the series actually shows — Washington County

Reported use here peaked in 2023 at 11,095 acre-feet and bottomed in 1993 at 1,394. 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 7,722 acre-feet a year against 4,649 in the first ten — higher. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 117 to 257: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Washington 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	6,169	7,339	117
1991	9,102	8,576	147
1992	2,344	5,032	90
1993	1,394	3,815	78
1994	3,281	5,930	113
1995	4,611	6,232	113
1996	4,422	7,275	129
1997	6,046	8,387	135
1998	3,942	6,710	119
1999	5,183	7,612	125
2000	7,388	8,910	145
2001	5,680	9,053	138
2002	10,723	12,110	162
2003	9,496	10,586	155
2004	6,727	10,758	153
2005	7,071	11,170	160
2006	8,041	10,702	173
2007	6,038	10,214	159
2008	4,673	10,332	159
2009	5,731	10,454	174
2010	4,857	11,065	162
2011	4,380	10,983	162
2012	10,631	12,931	180
2013	6,799	13,993	185
2014	7,541	15,411	201
2015	6,315	14,375	187
2016	6,424	15,370	220
2017	9,519	18,594	234
2018	7,464	16,585	237
2019	4,044	12,963	202
2020	6,518	16,325	231
2021	9,398	18,691	249
2022	8,901	17,041	239
2023	11,095	19,328	257

Where the water comes from

Source	Points	Share
groundwater — a well	456	68.8%
surface water — a river, stream or reservoir	207	31.2%

Which management district

District	Points	Share
Outside any district	663	100.0%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

406 of the 663 points in Washington County report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 599 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 Washington County?

663 points of diversion sit in Washington County, reporting 11,095 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

Washington 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
85239	Washington	ground	211	77	250	28
78093	Washington	ground	195	136	546	23
16557	Washington	ground	192	106	360	0
84183	Washington	ground	177	51	195	30
65670	Washington	ground	174	126	814	14
85476	Washington	ground	169	72	253	28
82189	Washington	ground	166	104	280	26
67159	Washington	ground	149	47	165	13
81833	Washington	ground	146	68	116	26
35303	Washington	ground	143	74	125	1
13367	Washington	ground	142	93	205	1
82992	Washington	ground	136	78	215	24
66931	Washington	ground	131	90	240	13
76851	Washington	ground	130	103	814	22
33991	Washington	surface	130	74	250	1
44486	Washington	ground	129	60	120	0
81224	Washington	ground	120	106	0	23
16936	Washington	ground	117	82	165	0
4358	Washington	surface	115	115	103	2
85956	Washington	ground	115	45	150	28
36563	Washington	ground	114	54	126	1
61855	Washington	ground	114	109	0	10
62056	Washington	ground	113	77	0	26
36263	Washington	surface	112	72	74	2
87932	Washington	ground	110	30	116	30
45918	Washington	ground	106	76	242	21
79442	Washington	surface	103	63	128	23
76956	Washington	ground	102	68	125	19
48313	Washington	ground	101	52	215	2
79272	Washington	ground	100	40	124	22
86461	Washington	ground	99	16	187	32
64613	Washington	ground	96	48	132	12
70549	Washington	ground	94	68	125	14
67959	Washington	ground	94	54	130	23
64520	Washington	ground	93	52	175	15
64590	Washington	ground	93	59	131	12
20035	Washington	ground	91	72	135	1
11123	Washington	ground	90	55	135	6
4348	Washington	ground	90	41	120	3
89304	Washington	ground	88	9	115	33
61008	Washington	surface	84	38	80	7
64693	Washington	ground	84	45	108	12
80293	Washington	ground	84	69	175	23
28861	Washington	ground	82	24	63	11
26786	Washington	ground	81	54	138	0
34731	Washington	ground	80	77	0	1
88535	Washington	ground	80	8	99	33
13397	Washington	ground	79	92	140	3
33473	Washington	ground	78	64	130	12
80284	Washington	ground	78	57	123	22
86450	Washington	surface	75	50	265	28
83478	Washington	ground	75	54	95	26
62775	Washington	surface	74	51	200	10
25774	Washington	surface	74	44	75	3
13586	Washington	ground	73	61	0	6
75060	Washington	surface	72	45	55	18
79216	Washington	ground	72	44	130	22
47804	Washington	surface	71	48	160	5
64447	Washington	ground	71	48	0	24
64397	Washington	ground	70	52	281	14
81099	Washington	ground	70	35	113	26
84911	Washington	surface	69	91	123	28
84449	Washington	ground	68	37	89	26
71116	Washington	ground	67	44	154	15
87909	Washington	ground	66	21	85	30
84059	Washington	ground	66	49	125	26
32507	Washington	ground	65	54	150	21
62211	Washington	ground	65	41	120	8
85999	Washington	ground	65	37	120	27
64071	Washington	ground	63	67	0	12
1417	Washington	surface	62	8	117	28
71337	Washington	surface	62	32	117	15
82515	Washington	ground	61	44	151	24
16293	Washington	ground	60	17	63	26
45050	Washington	ground	60	35	63	2
86102	Washington	ground	59	31	138	27
84914	Washington	surface	58	18	103	31
83548	Washington	ground	57	43	120	24
45980	Washington	ground	57	35	121	2
65303	Washington	ground	55	61	127	11
85963	Washington	surface	54	22	115	28
51559	Washington	ground	54	55	136	0
30537	Washington	ground	54	34	0	3
7088	Washington	ground	54	13	0	14
12139	Washington	ground	53	35	125	2
16779	Washington	ground	52	46	66	1
36370	Washington	surface	52	27	68	2
65165	Washington	ground	52	24	70	12
18357	Washington	surface	52	14	80	9
86739	Washington	ground	52	25	135	28
10717	Washington	ground	51	15	0	10
79936	Washington	ground	51	28	174	25
73159	Washington	ground	50	106	140	16
34154	Washington	surface	49	24	90	3
89268	Washington	surface	48	5	295	33
84785	Washington	ground	48	20	0	26
45935	Washington	ground	46	27	215	2
35868	Washington	ground	46	39	30	0
81125	Washington	ground	45	29	70	24
66270	Washington	surface	44	9	28	11
27813	Washington	surface	43	26	66	2
66267	Washington	ground	42	52	183	11
32927	Washington	ground	42	51	0	4
12913	Washington	ground	41	13	0	21
15289	Washington	surface	41	4	75	10
42371	Washington	surface	41	26	117	2
90123	Washington	ground	41	4	85	33
3559	Washington	surface	41	37	90	5
10116	Washington	ground	39	22	90	6
48139	Washington	surface	39	10	62	13
78278	Washington	surface	38	21	68	22
23546	Washington	ground	37	16	100	2
37318	Washington	ground	37	16	0	10
37883	Washington	surface	37	30	65	21
66272	Washington	surface	36	75	200	11
81826	Washington	surface	36	20	30	23
1127	Washington	ground	35	24	0	25
82025	Washington	ground	34	33	72	23
7186	Washington	ground	34	13	110	2
87296	Washington	ground	33	15	0	29

By source in Washington County

Counties with a comparable file

Norton 812
Sumner 785
Rice 752
Republic 721
Hodgeman 700
Cloud 685
Cheyenne 676
Clay 654
Phillips 637
Pottawatomie 636
Wallace 621
Morton 601
Shawnee 601

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.