MANHATTAN — The Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources has begun the formal review of the Walnut Creek Intensive Groundwater Use Control Area (IGUCA). The Walnut Creek IGUCA runs from Ness through Barton County was established in 1992 to address streamflow declines in Walnut Creek and groundwater declines in the Walnut Creek alluvium.

Regulation requires that a review is held to determine whether the public interest indicates that the IGUCA designation should be continued and, if so, whether there should be any adjustments to the IGUCA’s corrective control provisions.

The review process has three main phases.  First, KDA–DWR will gather data, analyze the performance of the IGUCA, and draft a report; KDA–DWR expects to publish a draft report for public review and comment by Dec. 31.  Then a final report with recommendations will be published in February 2022. Finally, KDA–DWR will hold a public hearing in the spring of 2022.

Due to the timing of the review and hearing process, KDA–DWR does not expect that this review will affect the calculation and assignment of 2022-2026 water allocations for water right holders within the Walnut Creek IGUCA.

KDA–DWR maintains a webpage dedicated to the Walnut Creek IGUCA at agriculture.ks.gov/WCIGUCA.