By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Many officials throughout southcentral Kansas can breathe a sigh of relief. At least for now. A water rights issue pertaining to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and the Rattlesnake Creek Basin could have had a multi-million dollar negative impact on the region annually. Last Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), which manages the refuge, announced it was pausing its request to secure its senior water rights. Orrin Feril, manager for Big Bend Groundwater Management District No. 5 (GMD) in Stafford County, has been a key figure in working out a solution.
"It gives some breathing room," he said. "I see it more as it's time to roll up the sleeves, put in some good work, and resolve this thing."
READ MORE: Battle for water rights continues in Stafford County
The refuge obtained its water rights in 1957, making those rights senior to most other properties in the area. In 2013, USFWS filed an impairment claim stating that water users upstream of the refuge in the Rattlesnake Creek region were impairing the refuge's ability to divert its water. In 2019, the state proposed the idea of direct administration of water rights, which would curtail water rights junior to those of the refuge.
READ MORE: Stafford Co., other area officials issue letter regarding water rights issue
USFWS Director Martha Williams, in a letter to Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) Chief Engineer Earl Lewis, said the service supports the KDA in formulating a working group to develop a collaborative remedy that can be implemented in full in January 2025. Feril said that's what GMD has been doing for the last 18 months with its National Environmental Policy Act process and stakeholder collaboration that has had input from various resources about economic, environmental, and socioeconomic impacts.
"What we're doing now is really informing this working group about the proper course forward," Feril said. "I am confident we will have a really good solution ready to be implemented by that date."
In September, leaders from 32 civic organizations and school districts in five counties wrote a letter to Williams, Governor Laura Kelly, and Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall. On Wednesday, Kelly and Moran issued a joint release in support of USFWS's decision to pause its request to secure the senior water rights.