House Committee on Water
As I reported in last week’s KWRC News, there is a lot of talk in the halls of the Capitol about major water legislation coming out of the House Committee on Water soon. Apparently, the chair of the committee had hoped to have it introduced last week, but it is taking time to get it through the Revisor’s Office due, in part, to its magnitude (400+ pages). It is now expected around the end of the week, Feb. 11. No one is revealing specifics, but it is rumored to propose significant re-organization of the state’s water agencies, more fees to pay for water projects, and more. So stay tuned here, on my Twitter account @kwrconsulting, or on Facebook page at kwrconsulting.
We have updated our HCOW webpage for the latest news and added links to media on the committee’s work including the following:
- 1/28/22, KS Reflector article: Hope springs from Kansas governor’s proposal to restore water funding https://kansasreflector.com/2022/01/28/hope-springs-from-kansas-governors-proposal-to-restore-water-funding/
- 1/28/22, Opinion piece by Rep. Vaughn, ranking minority member on the House Committee on Water, “Bipartisan solution would save water for Kansas farmers” https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readers-opinion/guest-commentary/article257776213.html
- 2/2/2022, Kansas Reflector article on the HCOW hearing on last Monday on dam safety needs of the state https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/kansas-regulators-struggling-to-deal-with-29-high-hazard-dams-in-need-of-repair/
Groundwater Management District (GMD) annual meetings
During February and March, all five of the state’s GMDs hold their annual meetings where you can learn more about the GMD’s activities, plans, and budgets and where elections for Board members occur. Below are the dates, times, locations, and links the GMD websites for more information.
- GMD 4 – February 16, 2022, 1:30, Hoxie Elks Lodge, Hoxie – http://gmd4.org/
- GMD 5 – February 17, 2022, 7:00 pm – https://gmd5.org/
- GMD 1 – February 23, 2022, 1:30, William Carpenter Building, Scott County Fairgrounds, Scott City https://www.gmd1.org/
- GMD 3 – https://www.gmd3.org/ March 9, 2020, 9:00. Gray Co. 4-H & Rec. Center, Cimarron, KS
- GMD 2 – http://www.gmd2.org/ March