Southwest Kansas GMD 3

15,740 points — 26.4% of the file — reporting 1,532,075 acre-feet in 2023.

What this district is

the largest irrigated district in the state, and the one where the Ogallala has fallen furthest.

What the series actually shows — Southwest Kansas GMD 3

Reported use here peaked in 1991 at 2,756,166 acre-feet and bottomed in 2019 at 1,476,286. 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 1,676,212 acre-feet a year against 2,242,460 in the first ten — lower. And the number of points reporting any use moved from 8,950 to 7,843: the count of straws in the ground barely changes, whatever the year does to the volume.

Reported use in Southwest Kansas GMD 3, 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	2,653,897	1,578,402	8,950
1991	2,756,166	1,593,885	9,101
1992	2,280,783	1,580,596	8,912
1993	1,980,774	1,563,208	8,883
1994	2,371,236	1,570,247	8,991
1995	2,259,964	1,557,011	8,786
1996	2,116,947	1,560,004	8,764
1997	2,010,561	1,595,536	8,971
1998	2,084,786	1,617,977	8,996
1999	1,909,489	1,621,356	9,047
2000	2,306,866	1,596,648	8,983
2001	2,031,639	1,564,507	8,999
2002	2,456,555	1,612,824	9,042
2003	2,022,731	1,524,670	8,988
2004	1,800,005	1,540,184	8,937
2005	1,647,474	1,501,450	8,777
2006	1,984,498	1,490,730	8,750
2007	1,835,529	1,485,656	8,674
2008	2,059,078	1,494,949	8,737
2009	1,858,512	1,484,786	8,672
2010	1,964,074	1,468,662	8,589
2011	2,413,924	1,468,007	8,579
2012	2,167,848	1,430,030	8,475
2013	1,985,882	1,463,684	8,419
2014	1,935,861	1,433,799	8,345
2015	1,627,001	1,433,822	8,273
2016	1,636,486	1,422,825	8,194
2017	1,510,793	1,425,948	8,114
2018	1,599,623	1,356,101	8,118
2019	1,476,286	1,415,299	7,985
2020	1,761,696	1,370,432	8,007
2021	1,692,845	1,416,002	7,947
2022	1,989,455	1,349,808	7,993
2023	1,532,075	1,511,032	7,843

Which counties

County	Points	Share
Finney	2,837	18.0%
Gray	2,214	14.1%
Haskell	1,667	10.6%
Ford	1,506	9.6%
Kearny	1,354	8.6%
Stevens	1,256	8.0%
Grant	1,103	7.0%
Stanton	1,064	6.8%
Seward	1,005	6.4%
Meade	945	6.0%
Morton	601	3.8%
Hamilton	188	1.2%

⚠️ What a zero here does not mean

7,897 of the 15,740 points in Southwest Kansas GMD 3 report 0 acre-feet for 2023, and 10,758 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 Southwest Kansas GMD 3?

15,740 points of diversion sit in Southwest Kansas GMD 3, reporting 1,532,075 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 largest points

Southwest Kansas GMD 3, 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
41268	Kearny	surface	10,571	11,133	6,000	2
41837	Kearny	surface	10,551	14,307	6,576	4
5690	Kearny	surface	7,915	5,949	9,999	2
19614	Kearny	surface	2,795	4,847	8,750	2
36450	Ford	ground	1,449	1,448	0	1
68297	Finney	ground	1,339	862	0	14
68226	Finney	ground	1,144	1,162	0	14
85661	Stevens	ground	1,038	573	747	26
1150	Ford	ground	930	527	0	0
51829	Stevens	ground	908	963	625	5
85900	Finney	ground	883	458	0	27
69711	Stevens	ground	882	876	480	20
74324	Seward	ground	876	663	480	17
60342	Stevens	ground	873	751	480	7
39849	Seward	ground	870	761	980	0
78050	Stevens	ground	866	861	488	20
63269	Stanton	ground	861	620	545	9
30927	Stevens	ground	859	706	504	0
63345	Seward	ground	841	646	676	9
83563	Stanton	ground	814	777	407	24
25851	Seward	ground	802	830	0	0
26000	Meade	ground	792	684	500	2
33292	Finney	ground	791	230	316	0
76576	Stevens	ground	786	575	495	19
28161	Stanton	ground	775	771	530	0
66386	Meade	ground	774	631	420	11
86891	Stevens	ground	771	475	518	28
75270	Ford	ground	765	555	0	21
85295	Seward	ground	760	553	0	26
14082	Stevens	ground	760	666	360	1
22117	Seward	ground	755	730	520	0
9142	Grant	ground	747	631	524	0
43136	Stevens	ground	747	311	480	1
52420	Stanton	ground	740	609	720	0
81059	Stevens	ground	738	470	330	23
88181	Seward	ground	736	291	575	30
80117	Stanton	ground	736	616	473	22
64697	Seward	ground	729	641	480	10
48695	Stanton	ground	726	553	450	0
82203	Meade	ground	726	637	410	23
4798	Finney	ground	721	787	488	1
35106	Stevens	ground	721	681	500	6
36419	Stevens	ground	721	692	470	0
82024	Meade	ground	719	592	246	23
67924	Meade	ground	717	336	486	28
9384	Stanton	ground	715	753	448	0
62098	Seward	ground	712	584	488	9
23011	Morton	ground	708	552	485	0
5582	Kearny	ground	703	762	535	5
87403	Seward	ground	698	333	640	29
29258	Meade	ground	696	608	640	0
66116	Meade	ground	695	644	366	11
49042	Seward	ground	694	599	375	1
89743	Seward	ground	693	113	640	32
62112	Stevens	ground	691	743	512	9
38440	Meade	ground	683	641	420	0
86782	Seward	ground	683	401	455	28
51843	Seward	ground	679	602	480	1
83872	Grant	ground	676	666	450	25
68705	Stevens	ground	674	876	500	13
40254	Stanton	ground	667	661	900	0
60598	Meade	ground	664	615	364	9
61057	Seward	ground	664	564	375	8
60986	Stevens	ground	663	618	488	8
78642	Stanton	ground	659	577	480	21
54629	Meade	ground	656	125	0	0
49440	Stevens	ground	655	634	528	0
61973	Stevens	ground	655	618	375	8
9408	Stanton	ground	654	258	240	10
68225	Stevens	ground	654	513	875	13
36717	Stevens	ground	653	690	400	0
88492	Hamilton	ground	652	218	409	30
9966	Stevens	ground	647	693	480	1
18852	Stevens	ground	647	558	625	0
86117	Meade	ground	645	400	320	27
31388	Finney	ground	645	837	411	1
23126	Seward	ground	641	569	363	0
85290	Stevens	ground	641	500	495	26
61527	Seward	ground	640	531	390	7
25083	Grant	ground	639	510	260	1
47961	Stevens	ground	637	593	598	5
89335	Hamilton	ground	637	121	210	32
31425	Stevens	ground	636	494	330	0
86717	Meade	ground	635	374	372	28
13520	Seward	ground	633	390	245	0
49612	Stevens	ground	632	528	360	8
9869	Seward	ground	630	542	450	1
14594	Stevens	ground	623	542	610	0
36894	Stevens	ground	623	797	494	0
60615	Stanton	ground	622	522	367	7
75271	Stevens	ground	622	587	488	18
86661	Stanton	ground	622	320	367	28
12836	Stevens	ground	621	781	452	1
27419	Seward	ground	620	528	360	0
89586	Stevens	ground	616	122	330	32
13780	Meade	ground	613	577	375	0
82173	Stanton	ground	613	478	320	23
45908	Seward	ground	612	599	400	1
29584	Stanton	ground	612	566	362	0
89108	Stevens	ground	612	175	377	31
81060	Stevens	ground	610	542	330	23
83119	Stevens	ground	610	611	544	24
1770	Seward	ground	606	599	370	0
53123	Grant	ground	606	581	366	0
55035	Haskell	ground	606	608	640	0
4582	Stevens	ground	605	560	475	8
25529	Stevens	ground	604	674	366	7
40994	Stanton	ground	602	468	320	0
13613	Ford	ground	601	268	0	11
23560	Grant	ground	600	459	375	0
75820	Stevens	ground	600	518	488	18
60945	Stevens	ground	599	637	490	8
3187	Stevens	ground	597	520	360	4
19938	Seward	ground	597	526	260	0
63063	Seward	ground	597	514	384	11
69651	Stevens	ground	597	577	369	14
78049	Stevens	ground	597	476	599	20
8733	Stevens	ground	596	577	345	3
78008	Grant	ground	596	369	320	20
33703	Stanton	ground	595	696	480	1