Sheridan County (SD-6)
SD-6 High Priority Area (HPA)
Everything on this page will apply only to the SD-6 HPA, which just happens to be the State's first Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA). This page will be updated regularly. Please be patient as all the individual enhanced management pages are new and are subject to update at any time.
Where is the SD-6 HPA?
It is the far Eastern HPA on the following map. The specific sections included are listed below the map.

Townships and Sections included in the SD-6 HPA shown on the above map are:
TWP 7S-28W: Sections 19-21 and 28-33
TWP 7S-29W: Sections 4-9 and
16-36
TWP 7S-30W: Sections 19-36
TWP 8S-29W: Sections 1-18
TWP
8S-30W: Sections 1-18
TWP 8S-31W: Sections 22-27 and 34-36
Documents, Notices and other Important Materials to the SD-6 Enhanced Management Process - in Chronological Order:
01) HPA SD-6 Initial Introduction and Hydrographs - November 10, 2008
02) LEMA Bill (SB 310) - April 12, 2012 becomes law
03) SD-6 Enhanced Management Proposal - Submitted July 16, 2012
04) DWR Approval Notice - August 3, 2012
05) Initial Public Hearing Notice - September 13, 2012 hearing
06) GMD4 Oral Testimony at Initial Public Hearing
07) Independent Hearing Officer's Report to Chief Engineer - October 4, 2012
08) Second Public Hearing Notice - November 28, 2012 hearing
09) DWR Hearing Officer Instructions for November 28, 2012 hearing - Hearing Order 1
10) Initial LEMA Order of Decision - Signed December 31, 2012
11) Final LEMA Order of Designation - Signed April 17, 2013
12) LEMA Order of Designation - Signed November 7, 2017
SD-6 LEMA Special Newsletters:
Newsletter - Vol. 1, No. 1 - April 17, 2013
DWR Webpage on SD-6 LEMA - All the official state information on the LEMA. (Much of the same information is included on both websites)
KGS Webpage on SD-6 LEMA - Contains all the water level measurements for the LEMA, plus the five index well hourly water level data sets. The index wells are NOT uploaded automatically so the hydrographs are static (updated only after the data is manually obtained by GMD 4 field staff and sent to KGS).
The Task 4 Process in SD-6:
Meeting Notes - Initial Meeting
(November 10, 2008)
Meeting Notes
- Meeting 2 (February 4, 2009
Meeting Notes - Meeting 3 (June 17, 2009)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 4 (January
25, 2010)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 5
(February 17, 2010)
Meeting Notes -
Meeting 6 (June 23, 2010)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 7 (December 16,
2010 - Joint DWR, GMD, SD-6 Mtg)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 8 (January
5, 2011 - Subcommittee work session)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 9
(January 11, 2011 - Subcommittee work session)
Meeting Notes -
Meeting 10 (January 19, 2011 - Recommendations Adopted)
Meeting Notes
- Meeting 11 (May 25, 2011)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 12 (March 28,
2012)
Meeting Notes - Meeting 13
(May 9, 2012 - Final Mtg)
Narrative Chronological Summary from January, 2011:
January 19, 2011: Stakeholders approved a
Working Draft of their SD-6
HPA Recommendations and asked that they be presented to the GMD 4 board.
Moreover, that this draft be the subject of the planned GMD 4 hearing
scheduled for March 3, 2011.
March 3, 2011: The GMD 4 board
conducted a public hearing on the working draft which produced comments
from five individuals that were taken under consideration.
April
7, 2011: GMD 4 board adopts Stakeholder working draft and begins
incorporating the recommendations into the Northwest Kansas Groundwater
Management District Revised Management Program.
May 25, 2011:
Stakeholder meeting following the public hearing in which the
stakeholders asked the GMD 4 board to NOT adopt the proposal based on
the stakeholder's request, and that new legislative authority be sought
to implement a locally developed proposal such as theirs.
June 1,
2011: GMD 4 board honored the stakeholders' request and declined to
adopt the SD-6 enhanced management proposal. Staff was directed to begin
working on new Legislative authority for implementing enhanced
management areas as requested by the SD-6 stakeholders.
July 21,
2011: GMD 4 requests that the Governor's newly formed Ogallala Aquifer
Advisory Committee (OAAC) consider support for the developing new
enhanced management area legislation.
August 9, 2011: OAAC agrees
to consider the new legislative authority and discusses it in their
initial meeting. GMD 4 manager Wayne Bossert presented the concept of a
special, local IGUCA to the committee. Following the presentation,
questions and more discussion, the committee unanimously adopted the
concept as presented. This new effort was purposely segregated from the
IGUCA process, and hence was provided a new name - Local Enhanced
Management Area (LEMA).
Fall, 2011: GMD 4 staff begin working on
a new Revised Management Program - incorporating the concepts into the
existing Enhanced Management section.
January 19, 2012: The GMD 4
LEMA bill (co-drafted by GMD 4 and DWR with technical help from the
Revisor of Statutes, and with multiple review and comment opportunities
by the other 4 GMD's, Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Livestock Association
and Kansas Feed and Grain Association) was introduced as SB 310 by
Senator Ralph Ostmeyer, Chairman of the Senate Natural Resources
Committee.
April 5, 2012: The GMD 4 board approves the Revised
Management Program and submits it to the chief engineer.
April
12, 2012: Governor Signs new LEMA Bill (SB 310 - see documents above)
providing locals new authority to implement local enhanced management
plans.
May 9, 2012: Final working draft of the SD-6 HPA enhanced
management proposal is provided to the GMD 4 board.
May 16, 2012:
Chief engineer reviews and approves the GMD Revised Management Program.
July 12, 2012: GMD 4 board conducts required public hearing RE:
Revised Management Program for all GMD 4 members. The board also
approves the Revised Management Progam and sets it's effective date as
July 13, 2012.
July 16, 2012: GMD 4 board submits final SD-6
Enhanced Management Proposal (see documents above) to chief engineer
after making 4 amendments to the draft provided on May 9, 2012. This
version includes the board amendments (unfortunately the embedded
spreadsheets did not remain clickable during the pdf conversion
process).
August 3, 2012: Chief engineer determines that the SD-6
LEMA proposal meets the five statutory requirements and initiates the
LEMA process. He also schedules the initial public hearing for September
13, 2012, in Hoxie, KS.
September 13, 2012: Chief engineer
conducts the initial public hearing through an independent hearing
officer. GMD 4 staff and six others testify.
September 26, 2012:
GMD receives the remainder of the testimony submitted to the initial
public hearing process - 4 additional statements.
October 4,
2012: Independent Hearing Officer Constance Owen issues her initial
public hearing order - finding in the affirmative on all three
statements of fact. This order recommends to the Kansas State Engineer
that the SD-6 LEMA process continue.
October 10, 2012: Kansas
chief engineer David Barfield accepts initial hearing report and
schedules second LEMA public hearing for November 28, 10:30 AM in Hoxie,
KS at the Sheridan County Courthouse.
November 28, 2012: Kansas
chief engineer David Barfield conducts the second required LEMA public
hearing in Hoxie, KS at the Sheridan County Courthouse. Following
presentation of all testimony, the hearing record is left open through
December 4, 2012 for any additional written comments.
December
31, 2012: Kansas chief engineer David Barfield issued the initial SD-6
LEMA Order of Decision. This order establishes that: the LEMA period is
January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2017; individual allocations have
been established for irrigation, stockwatering and recreational water
rights therein - based upon the local LEMA proposal; and several other
details. The individual allocations and remaining specifics of the
process will be provided to all water right owners in the coming weeks.
January 22, 2013: The GMD 4 Board of Directors sends out individual
notices that an Advisory Committee will be appointed in March per the
proposal, and invites all interested persons to consider serving.
March 7, 2013: Gmd4 board appoints the SD-6 LEMA Advisory Committee.
Members are: Sharon Munk - representing non-irrigation; Gary Moss, Brett
Oelke, Grant Gaede, Dennis Rogers, Roch Meier and Stu Beckman -
representing irrigation; Mitchell Baalman - representing GMD 4; and
Scott Ross - representing DWR.
March 28, 2013: The advisory
committee meets for the first time to organize and discuss alternative
meter methods that can be pre-approved for use. Gary Moss is selected as
Chairman and five alternative metering methods are suggested for DWR
adoption. In short, these were: 1) Periodic meter readings and
recordation; 2) Power Company records that can express operational
hours; 3) Temperature sensors that can log when the well is in
operation; 4) Ag-Sense or similar Ag data service; and 5) a sturdy
engine hour meter - remotely mounted.
April 17, 2013: Gmd4 sends
out the first edition of the new SD-6 LEMA Ledger - a newsletter just
for the stakeholders of SD-6. Four issues are covered: 1) Alternative
meter procedures (noting only three of the recommended five methods were
adopted by DWR); 2) RMA limited irrigation program information; 3)
Governor Brownback's Ag efficiency task force and their demonstration
approach; and 4) the Multi-Year Flexibility Account (MYFA) option for
all water rights.
April 17, 2013: Kansas Chief Engineer David
Barfield signed the Order of Designation. This final order stipulates
that GMD 4 is to send out individual letters to all water right owners
in the LEMA within 30 days. These letters will have each water right's
5-year allocation, will describe how each water right will be affected
by the order during the designated LEMA period, and other relevant
information. Each water right is to receive a letter. the The full order
is to be posted on the DWR and GMD 4 websites with hard copies provided
to the Register of Deeds in both Sheridan and Thomas Counties and to the
DWR Field Office in Stockton and GMD 4. When requested, DWR and/or GMD 4
are to mail a full copy of the order to any interested person who is
affected.