Kansas HB 2477: Increasing the maximum reimbursement from the Kansas agricultural remediation fund from $200,000 to $300,000 for an eligible person and from $400,000 to $600,000 when both a buyer and a seller or a lessee and a lessor are responsible for remediation and increasing the amount available to the Kansas agricultural remediation board for administrative overhead expenses from $150,000 to $175,000.

Bill Text

HOUSE BILL No. 2477
AN ACT concerning water; relating to the Kansas department of agriculture; requiring the
department to publish a map on the department's official website that shows the
location of all applied-for diversions of water and requested changes of more than
300 feet; requiring any resulting orders to be posted on the department's official
website; expanding the current individual notice requirement to apply to all
landowners that are within half a mile of such applied-for diversions or changes;
removing the requirement for such individual notice to be made by the department in
conjunction with the applicable groundwater management district; amending K.S.A.
82a-745 and 82a-1906 and repealing the existing sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. K.S.A. 82a-745 is hereby amended to read as follows:
82a-745. (a) Any water right owner or a group of water right owners in
a designated area may enter into a consent agreement and order with
the chief engineer to establish a water conservation area. The water
right owner or group of water right owners shall submit a management
plan to the chief engineer. Such management plan shall be the basis of
the consent agreement and order designating a water conservation area
and shall:
(1) Include clear geographic boundaries;
(2) include the written consent of all participating water right
owners within the geographic boundaries described in paragraph (1) to
enter into the consent agreement and order;
(3) include a finding or findings that one or more of the
circumstances specified in K.S.A. 82a-1036(a) through (d), and
amendments thereto, exist, or include a finding or findings that the area
within the geographic boundaries described in paragraph (1) has been
closed to new appropriations by rule, regulation or order of the chief
engineer;
(4) include provisions regarding the proposed duration of the
water conservation area and any process by which water right owners
may request to be added or removed from the water conservation area;
(5) include goals and one or more of the corrective control
provisions provided in subsection (b);
(6) give due consideration to water users who have previously
implemented reductions in water use resulting in voluntary
conservation measures;
(7) include compliance monitoring and enforcement; and
(8) be consistent with state law.
(b) A consent agreement and order of designation of a water
conservation area pursuant to this section shall define the boundaries of
the water conservation area and may include any of the following
corrective control provisions:
(1) Closing the water conservation area to any further
appropriation of groundwater. In which event, the chief engineer shall
thereafter refuse to accept any application for a permit to appropriate
groundwater located within such area;
(2) determining the permissible total withdrawal of groundwater
in the water conservation area each day, month or year, and
apportioning such permissible total withdrawal among the valid
groundwater right holders in such area in accordance with the relative
dates of priority of such rights;
(3) reducing the permissible withdrawal of groundwater by any
one or more appropriators thereof, or by wells in the water conservation
area;
(4) requiring and specifying a system of rotation of groundwater
use in the water conservation area; and
(5) any other provisions necessary to effectuate agreed-upon water
conservation goals consistent with the public interest.
The chief engineer shall be responsible for the monitoring and
enforcement of any corrective control provisions ordered for a water
conservation area.
(c) The order of designation shall be in full force and effect from
the date of its entry in the records of the chief engineer's office. The
chief engineer upon request shall deliver a copy of such order to any
interested person who is affected by such order and shall file a copy of

HOUSE BILL No. 2477—page 2
the same with the register of deeds of any county within which any part
of the water conservation area lies.
(d) If any corrective control provisions of a water conservation
area conflict with rules and regulations of a groundwater management
district or requirements of a local enhanced management plan or
intensive groundwater use control area that result in greater overall
conservation of water resources within which a participating water right
is situated, the chief engineer is authorized to amend the provisions of
the water conservation area to conform to any rules and regulations or
requirements that result in greater conservation of water resources, as
determined by the chief engineer.
(e) To provide flexibility in the management of water resources, as
part of the consent agreement and order of designation, the chief
engineer may authorize a management plan that allots water authorized
by existing water rights, subject to the following limitations:
(1) The management plan shall be limited to the term of the