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Commissioner Swayze seems concerned about water depletion when it's near his land:

Farmers decry plan for new irrigation wells

By Tim Vandenack

The Hutchinson News

tvandenackAThutchnews.com

A decision by state officials to allow four new irrigation wells in Ford County is angering some area farmers, who worry about slipping levels in the underground aquifer and the possible upshot to existing wells.

"Our water's going down, down, down in this area, and I don't know why they're approving new wells," said Dustin Clevenger, a Bucklin-area farmer and rancher who fears any new wells will impinge on his.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture's Division of Water Resources late last December approved applications to put in four new wells amid the farmland and grazing fields of southeastern Ford County.

Though the area was closed to new wells in 2003 because of dipping water supplies, the original applications had been filed before the restriction was put in place, according to Lisa Taylor, a department spokeswoman. Moreover, she notes that the wells will be "very closely monitored" and that the permits have a preliminary duration of only 10 years.

If an existing water right is being impacted, state water officials "can change the terms of the permit or take action to stop the pumping," said Taylor. Galen Fields, who lives in the Bucklin area, applied for two of the wells while Tom Bradshaw applied for the others.

Nonetheless, the turn of events doesn't rest easy with critics like Clevenger and John Swayze, who along with several others, unsuccessfully petitioned the Department of Agriculture last month to reverse course.

Clevenger has a well about a half-mile from one of the proposed sites "that isn't that great" and worries that any addition will exacerbate the situation.

Swayze, who ranches in northern Clark County near where the new wells would go in, says his plot had four springs and three ponds when he bought it in 1974. Now, with continued extractions from the aquifer underneath, it has just one remaining spring, which only flows part time. Then there are the miles and miles of pipeline he and others have had to install to assure their cattle a source of water.

"I've been around 70 years and I can see what's happening," said Swayze, a Bucklin resident who's also a Ford County commissioner. "It's scary." Edit: So are you, Mr. Swayze.

Fields acknowledged the concern the situation could cause but declined further comment.

The four successful applications were part of a pool of 32 from Ford, Clark, Comanche and Meade counties filed before the area was closed to new wells. The Division of Water Resources initially rejected all of them in 2004, but 18 of the applicants appealed, leading to the approval of the quartet last month.

Another Ford County applicant seeking permission to pump his annual allocation in a shorter period also received a green light while 10 more appeals from Meade and Ford counties have yet to be ruled on, according to Taylor.

02/08/2007; 02:39:31 AM