Volume 44 - Issue 45 - November 6, 2025
State of Kansas
Department of Agriculture
Division of Water Resources
Notice of Hearing on Proposed Administrative Regulations
A public hearing will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. January 8, 2026, in room 124 of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, 1320 Research Park Dr., Manhattan, Kansas, to consider the adoption of proposed regulations. The public hearing will be conducted in person and via video conferencing system. Members of the public who wish to attend the public hearing virtually must pre-register at https://kansasag.zoom.us/j/84210746921?pwd=0kkmZj0XpvLHwTuOIJ9lXDkGd3bdua.1&jst=1.
This 60-day notice of the public hearing shall constitute a public comment period for the purpose of receiving written public comments on the proposed regulations. All interested parties may submit written comments prior to the hearing to the Secretary of Agriculture, 1320 Research Park Dr., Manhattan, KS 66502, or by email to ronda.hutton@ks.gov. All interested parties will be given a reasonable opportunity to present their views orally on the adoption of the proposed regulations during the hearing. To give all parties an opportunity to present their views, it may be necessary to request each participant limit any oral presentation to five minutes. These regulations are proposed for adoption on a permanent basis.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources (KDA-DWR) is proposing the amendment or revocation of regulations related to the implementation of the Kansas Water Appropriation Act, K.S.A. 82a-701, et seq. (KWAA). The regulations relate to requirements for water flowmeters and civil penalties for violations of those requirements.
A summary of K.A.R. 5-1-4, 5-1-5, 5-1-6, 5-1-7, 5-1-8, 5-1-9, 5-1-10, 5-1-11, 5-1-12, and 5-14-10 follows:
K.A.R. 5-1-4 sets forth specifications for water flowmeters. The substantive amendments to this regulation are aimed at ensuring the accuracy of water flowmeters. The most significant proposed amendment requires that all required water flowmeters that are installed or repaired after the effective date of the regulation be equipped with an anti-reversing totalizer or other mechanism that will prevent reverse flow from altering the forward totalizer reading of the water flowmeter and be sealed in such a way that the meter cannot be tampered with without such tampering being evident. Essentially, this requires that all water flowmeters that are installed going forward be equipped with a mechanism that will prevent a water user from being able to alter the water flowmeter’s reading by reversing the meter or otherwise altering the meter’s reading. Meters with a nominal pipe diameter of less than four inches are exempted from this requirement.
K.A.R. 5-1-5 permits the Chief Engineer to grant variances from the requirements contained in K.A.R. 5-1-4. It is proposed for revocation because it is redundant to the Chief Engineer’s statutory authority to waive any DWR regulation upon a finding that doing so will not result in the impairment of existing water rights or harm the public interest.
K.A.R. 5-1-6 sets water flowmeter installation specifications. The requirements of this regulation are similar to those of K.A.R. 5-1-4 but are more specifically focused on the installation of water flowmeters. Similar to the amendments proposed to K.A.R. 5-1-4, the substantive proposed amendments to this regulation are aimed at ensuring the accurate measurement of diversions and preventing meter reversal or tampering, including explicitly aligning the requirements of this regulation with those of K.A.R. 5-1-4 and 5-1-9. Like K.A.R. 5-1-4, this regulation also distinguishes between water flowmeters installed before and after the effective date of the regulation.
K.A.R. 5-1-7 sets requirements for when a water flowmeter is required to be installed. The substantive proposed amendments to this regulation would align the requirements of this regulation with those in K.A.R. 5-1-4 and would streamline the existing exceptions that establish situations in which a water flowmeter is not currently required following the approval of a change in place of use, point of diversion, or type of use for a nondomestic water right in order to ensure diversions continue to be accurately measured following any such change.
K.A.R. 5-1-8 sets requirements for water flowmeter maintenance. The proposed amendments would add new requirements for regular inspection of water flowmeters and the maintenance of logs of such inspection. The regulation provides that logs showing a water flowmeter was operating in compliance prior to the initiation of any investigation related to the water right may be considered a prompt cessation of any alleged violation of the KWAA related to the malfunction of a water flowmeter, and DWR regulations provide that prompt cessation of a violation is grounds for the mitigation of imposed penalties. This regulation also establishes requirements for reporting the failure of a water flowmeter and certain kinds of maintenance of a water flowmeter to the Chief Engineer.
K.A.R. 5-1-9 establishes criteria for when a water flowmeter is considered out of compliance. The proposed amendments are primarily aimed at aligning this regulation with the proposed amendments to K.A.R. 5-1-4 and K.A.R. 5-1-6 to clarify that a water flowmeter is out of compliance if the requirements of those regulations are not met.
K.A.R. 5-1-10 specifies the duties of a water right owner when a water flowmeter is out of compliance. The proposed amendments would require that the owner of a noncompliant water flowmeter provide documentation to the Chief Engineer showing any removal and replacement of a required water flowmeter seal and invoices reflecting the purchase of a new water flowmeter or work done to repair a water flowmeter within 30 days of such purchase or work being done.
K.A.R. 5-1-11 provides that water flowmeter rate tests may be conducted by a nonagency person if certain requirements are met. The most substantive proposed amendment to this regulation requires that a water right owner who utilizes a nonagency person to perform a rate test certify to the Chief Engineer that the rate test was conducted and that it is accurate to the best of the nonagency person’s knowledge.
K.A.R. 5-1-12 sets requirements for water flowmeter manufacturers who wish to have a water flowmeter model added to the Chief Engineer’s list of certified water flowmeters. The proposed amendments add a requirement that the manufacturer certify that the water flowmeter is equipped with an anti-reverse totalizer, consistent with the proposed amendments to K.A.R. 5-1-4 and K.A.R. 5-1-6, and otherwise seek to streamline the regulation by striking specific requirements that repeat the requirements of K.A.R. 5-1-4 and K.A.R. 5-1-6 and replacing them with a single requirement that the manufacturer certify that the water flowmeter complies with those regulations.
K.A.R. 5-14-10 provides for civil penalties for violations of the KWAA other than overpumping a water right’s authorized quantity of water. The proposed amendments to this regulation would make violations of K.A.R. 5-1-4 and K.A.R. 5-1-6 subject to civil penalties as provided for in the regulation.
The proposed regulations are not mandated by federal law as a requirement for participating in or implementing a federally subsidized or assisted program and do not exceed any requirements of federal law. Federal law is not applicable in this area, as the states generally have primacy in matters related to water within their boundaries, and the KWAA gives the Chief Engineer of KDA-DWR the authority to regulate water use in Kansas. The proposed regulations are consistent with the doctrine of prior appropriation, which is embodied in the KWAA and is the water law doctrine used by other Western states.
DWR does not expect the proposed regulations to enhance or restrict business activities and growth. Water right owners who are granted new water rights that require the installation of a water flowmeter or who repair or replace required water flowmeters after the effective date of these regulations will incur implementation and compliance costs related to these regulations. Water right owners could be individuals, business entities, or municipalities. These costs will apply the same to all types of owners.
A detailed quantification of implementation and compliance costs is as follows:
As to the anti-reverse gear requirements of K.A.R. 5-1-4, DWR records reflect that approximately 300 permits for new water rights are granted every year. Information obtained from McCrometer, Inc., a well-established meter manufacturer, indicates that the difference in cost between a new water flowmeter without an anti-reverse totalizer and one with an anti-reverse totalizer is between $66 and $72, for an average increase in cost of $69. DWR estimates that about half of water flowmeters installed in Kansas are manufactured by companies that no longer offer meters without anti-reverse mechanisms, i.e, about half of water users installing new meters would have paid the additional $69 per meter even without these regulation updates. Accordingly, DWR estimates that approximately 150 water users per year will incur an additional $69 cost for the installation of new meters as a result of the regulations, for a total cost of $10,350.
The requirement contained in K.A.R. 5-1-6 that flanged water flowmeters installed after the effective date of the regulation be installed with a sufficient number of cross-drilled flange bolts will likely also impose some additional costs. DWR estimates that 40% of water flowmeters are flanged flowmeters and that this requirement will increase costs by approximately an additional $30 per water flowmeter. Accordingly, about 120 new meters per year (40 percent of the 300 new meters installed in a year) will require additional cross-drilled flange bolts at the additional cost of $30 per meter, for a total additional cost of $3,600 per year.
DWR records reflect that there are currently approximately 35,000 required water flowmeters installed in Kansas and that about 10% of those are repaired or replaced each year. Accordingly, approximately 3,500 water flowmeters are repaired or replaced each year. If half of the meters replaced would have been installed with anti-reverse mechanisms even without these regulation amendments as set out above, about 1,750 water users will incur an increased cost of $69 per year each to replace water flowmeters as a result of these regulations, for a total cost of $120,750. Approximately 1,400 water users (40 percent of the 3,500 meters repaired or replaced each year) will incur additional increased costs of $30 per meter related to the cross-drilled flange bolt requirement, for a total increase in costs of $42,000.
The annual implementation and compliance costs associated with K.A.R. 5-1-4 will be approximately $131,100. The annual implementation and compliance costs associated with K.A.R. 5-1-6 will be approximately $45,600. These costs will not affect the state economy as a whole or cause any changes in aggregate state revenues and expenditures for the current or next fiscal year. Some water rights subject to those costs will be owned by individuals, and some will be owned by larger agricultural operations that may be corporate entities and employ a varying number of people.
Businesses that acquire new water rights for which a water flowmeter is required to be installed or repair or replace existing required water flowmeters after the effective date of these regulations will be directly affected by the proposed regulations. Water rights may be owned by individuals, businesses, or municipalities. This economic impact statement calculates the estimated total economic impact of these regulations to all water right owners but does not distinguish between costs related to water rights owned by individuals and those owned by business entities, as many water rights are owned by agricultural producers in the name of an incorporated entity. The regulations treat all types of ownership and all types of water use the same consistent with the requirements of the KWAA.
These regulations, including the provisions that will impose costs on the regulated public, will help ensure accurate measurement of diversions of water and apply only to water flowmeters installed or repaired after the effective date of the proposed regulations and provide an exemption for water flowmeters with a pipe diameter less than four inches. This is important for ensuring the lawful use of an increasingly scarce resource as well as for ensuring that no one user gains an unfair advantage over others.
The agency reached out to the League of Kansas Municipalities, the Kansas Association of Counties, and the Kansas Association of School Boards regarding the potential economic impact of the proposed regulations and none of those entities indicated any economic impact to their organization as a result of these regulations.
Any individual with a disability may request accommodations to participate in the public hearing and may request the proposed regulations and economic impact statement in an accessible format. Requests for accommodations should be made at least five working days in advance of the hearing by contacting Ronda Hutton at 785-564-6715 or fax at 785-564-6777.
Copies of the proposed regulations and economic impact statement may be obtained by contacting the Department of Agriculture, Ronda M. Hutton, 1320 Research Park Dr., Manhattan, KS 66502 or 785-564-6715 or by accessing the department’s website at https://www.agriculture.ks.gov. Comments may also be made through our website at https://www.agriculture.ks.gov/public-resources/public-comments.
Earl Lewis
Chief Engineer
Division of Water Resources
Department of Agriculture
Doc. No. 053622
