KANSAS
Statute # 82a-529
Chapter 82a.--WATERS AND WATERCOURSES
Article 5.--INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND AGREEMENTS
Kansas-Nebraska Big Blue River Compact.
The legislature hereby ratifies the compact
designated as the "Kansas-Nebraska Big Blue River
Compact" between the states of Nebraska and
Kansas signed in the city of Lincoln, state of
Nebraska on the 25th day of January, 1971 by Dan
S. Jones, Jr., as representative for the state of
Nebraska, Keith S. Krause, as representative for
the state of Kansas and Elmo W. McClendon, as
representative of the United States of America,
which said compact is as follows: KANSAS-NEBRASKA
BIG BLUE RIVER COMPACT PREAMBLE
The state of Kansas and the state of
Nebraska, acting through their duly authorized
compact representatives, Keith S. Krause for the
state of Kansas and Dan S. Jones, Jr., for the
state of Nebraska, after negotiations
participated in by Elmo W. McClendon, appointed
by the president as the representative of the
United States of America, and in accordance with
the consent to such negotiations granted by an
act of congress of the United States of America,
approved June 3, 1960, Public Law 489, 86th
congress, 2nd session, have agreed that the major
purposes of this compact concerning the waters of
the Big Blue river and its tributaries are:
A. To promote interstate comity between the
states of Nebraska and Kansas;
B. To achieve an equitable apportionment of
the waters of the Big Blue river basin between
the two states and to promote orderly development
thereof; and
C. To encourage continuation of the active
pollution-abatement programs in each of the two
states and to seek further reduction in both
natural and man-made pollution of the waters of
the Big Blue river basin.
To accomplish these purposes, the said
states have agreed as set forth in the following
articles. Article I--Definitions As used in this
compact:
1.1 The term "state" shall mean either
state signatory hereto, and it shall be construed
to include any person, entity, or agency of
either state who, by reason of official
responsibility or by designation of the governor
of the state, is acting as an official
representative of the state;
1.2 The term "Kansas-Nebraska Big Blue
river compact administration," or the term
"administration," means the agency created by
this compact for the administration thereof;
1.3 The term "Big Blue river basin" means
all of the drainage basin of the Big Blue and
Little Blue rivers in Nebraska and Kansas
downstream to the confluence of the Big Blue
river with the Kansas river near Manhattan,
Kansas;
1.4 The term "Big Blue river basin in
Nebraska" means all of the drainage basin of the
Big Blue river in Nebraska and is exclusive of
the drainage basin of the Little Blue river in
Nebraska;
1.5 The term "minimum mean daily flow"
means the minimum mean flow for any one calendar
day;
1.6 The term "pollution" means
contamination or other undesirable alteration of
any of the physical, chemical, biological,
radiological, or thermal properties of the waters
of the basin, or the discharge into the waters of
the basin of any liquid, gaseous, or solid
substances that create or are likely to result in
a nuisance, or that render or are likely to
render the waters into which they are discharged
harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public
health, safety, or welfare, or that are harmful,
detrimental, or injurious to beneficial uses of
the water;
1.7 The term "water project" means any
physical structure or any manmade changes which
affect the quantity or quality of natural water
supplies or natural streamflows and which are
designed to bring about greater beneficial use of
the water resources of an area;
1.8 The term "natural flow" means that
portion of the flow in a natural stream that
consists of direct runoff from precipitation on
the land surface, ground-water infiltration to
the stream, return flows to the natural stream
from municipal, agricultural, or other uses, and
releases from storage for no designated
beneficial use;
1.9 The term "inactive water appropriation"
means a water right that is subject to
cancellation or termination for non-use. Article
II--Description of the Basin
2.1 The Big Blue river, a tributary of the
Kansas river, drains an area of 9,696 square
miles in south central Nebraska and north central
Kansas. About 75 percent of the Big Blue river
basin is in Nebraska, and the remainder is in
Kansas. The Big Blue river and its principal
tributary, the Little Blue river, join near Blue
Rapids, Kansas. From there, the Big Blue river
flows generally southward to join the Kansas
river near Manhattan, Kansas, as shown on exhibit
A.
2.2 Much of the upper portion of the basin
in Nebraska is underlain with sands and gravels
that supply large quantities of water to
irrigation wells. The lower portion of the basin
in Nebraska and that portion of the basin in
Kansas lack significant ground-water supplies
except within the major stream valleys. Article
III--Organization of Compact Administration
3.1 Administration Agency. There is hereby
established an interstate administrative agency,
to be known as the "Kansas-Nebraska Big Blue
river compact administration," to administer the
compact.
3.2 Administration membership. The
administration shall be composed of one ex
officio member and one advisory member from each
state, plus a federal member to be appointed by
the president if he so desires. The ex officio
member from each state shall be the official
charged with the duty of administering the laws
of his state pertaining to water rights. Said
official shall designate a representative who may
serve in his place at meetings of the
administration. All actions taken by the
designated representative in the transaction of
the business of the administration shall be in
the name of the official he represents and shall
be binding on that official. The advisory member
from each state may serve in any capacity within
the administration. He shall reside in the Big
Blue river basin portion of the state he
represents.
The governor of each state shall appoint
the advisory member from that state for a term of
four years. This appointment shall be made within
90 days after the effective date of this compact.
3.3 Administration government. The
administration shall hold its first meeting
within 120 days after the effective date of this
compact, and it shall meet at least annually
thereafter. The federal member, if one be
designated, shall serve as chairman, without
vote. If no federal representative is appointed,
the administration shall select a chairman, in
addition to such officers as may be provided for
in the rules and regulations, to serve at the
will of the administration. A meeting quorum
shall consist of the ex officio members from both
states, or their designated representatives. Each
state shall have but one vote, cast by the ex
officio member or his representative. All actions
must be approved by both ex officio members or
their representatives. Minutes of each meeting
shall be kept, and they shall be available for
public inspection.
3.4 Administration powers and duties. The
administration shall have the power to adopt
rules and regulations consistent with the
provisions of this compact, to enforce such rules
and regulations, and to otherwise carry out its
responsibilities. It may institute action in its
own name in courts of competent jurisdiction to
compel compliance with the provisions of this
compact and with the rules and regulations it
adopts.
The administration is hereby authorized to
employ the technical and clerical staff necessary
to carry out its functions, and to maintain the
office and appurtenances necessary to conduct its
business. It may employ attorneys, engineers, or
other consultants. It may purchase equipment and
services necessary to its functions.
The administration shall publish an annual
report including a review of its activities and
financial status. It may also prepare and publish
such other reports and publications as it deems
necessary.
In order to provide a sound basis for
carrying out the apportionment provisions of this
compact, the administration shall cause to be
established such stream-gaging stations,
ground-water observation wells, and other
data-collection facilities as are necessary for
administering this compact; and it shall install
such other equipment and collect such data
therefrom, for a period of not less than five
years, as are necessary or desirable for
evaluating the effects of pumping of wells on the
flows of the Big Blue and Little Blue rivers at
the Kansas-Nebraska state line. The well area to
be considered is described in Article V,
paragraph 5.2.
The administration shall have authority to
accept funds from local, state, and federal
sources. It may enter into cooperative agreements
and contribute funds to support such
data-collection and analysis programs as are
necessary for administration of the compact.
Article IV--Responsibility of Each State
4.1 Expenses of administration. Each state
and federal member of the administration shall
receive such compensation and such reimbursement
for travel and subsistence as are provided by the
government he represents, and he shall be paid by
that government.
4.2 Budget. Each year, the administration
shall prepare a properly documented budget
covering the anticipated expenditures of the
administration for the following fiscal period.
Each state shall make provision in its budget for
funds to pay its share of the expenses of the
administration, which shall be divided equally
between the states of Kansas and Nebraska. The
administration shall establish a fund to which
each state shall contribute equally and from
which the expenses of the administration shall be
paid.
4.3 Records and information. The state of
Kansas and the state of Nebraska shall cooperate
with the administration and furnish to it such
records, information, plans, data, and assistance
as may be reasonably available; and they shall
keep the administration advised of federal
activities in connection with planning, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance of
water-resource projects in the Big Blue river
basin.
Any local, public, or private agency
collecting water data or planning, designing,
constructing, operating, or maintaining any water
project or facility in the Big Blue river basin
shall keep the administration advised of its
investigations and of any proposed changes and
additions to existing projects and facilities,
and it shall submit plans for new projects to the
administration for review of those project
aspects affecting surface-water flowage and
quality. Article V--Apportionment of Waters of
the Big Blue River Basin
5.1 Principles of apportionment. The
physical and other conditions peculiar to the Big
Blue river basin constitute the basis for this
apportionment, and neither of the signatory
states hereby, nor the congress of the United
States by its consent hereto, concedes that this
apportionment establishes any general principle
with respect to any other interstate stream.
The states of Kansas and Nebraska subscribe
to the principle of including storage capacity
for low-flow regulation in reservoirs constructed
by the U.S. bureau of reclamation and the U.S.
army corps of engineers, and to the principle of
such administration as is required to assure that
water released from storage for low-flow
regulation shall remain available in the stream
to accomplish its intended purpose.
5.2 Nebraska apportionment. The state of
Nebraska shall have free and unrestricted use of
the waters of the Little Blue and Big Blue river
basins in Nebraska, such use to be in accordance
with the laws of the state of Nebraska, subject
to the limitations set forth below.
(a) Water appropriations of record in the
Little Blue and Big Blue river basins in Nebraska
on November 1, 1968, that were then inactive,
shall be cancelled by due process of laws in
effect in that state.
(b) During the period, May 1-September 30,
the state of Nebraska shall regulate diversions
from natural flow of streams in the Little Blue
and Big Blue river basins by water appropriators
junior to November 1, 1968, in order to maintain
minimum mean daily flows at the state-line gaging
stations (which are now located at Fairbury and
Barneston, respectively, but which may be
relocated at such other places as may be
designated state-line gaging stations by the
administration) during each month as follows:
Little Blue River May .... 45 cfs June .... 45
cfs July .... 75 cfs August .... 80 cfs September
.... 60 cfs Big Blue River May .... 45 cfs June
.... 45 cfs July .... 80 cfs August .... 90 cfs
September .... 65 cfs
When such action is necessary to maintain
the above schedule of flows, the state of
Nebraska shall:
(1) Limit diversions by natural-flow
appropriators in Nebraska in accordance with
their water appropriations;
(2) Close, in reverse order of priority,
natural-flow appropriations with priority dates
subsequent to November 1, 1968, including rights
to store water in the conservation-storage zones
of reservoirs;
(3) Enjoin all persons not holding valid
natural-flow appropriations from taking water
during periods when the exercise of junior
natural-flow appropriations is being restricted;
(4) Regulate, in the same manner that
diversion of natural flows is regulated,
withdrawals of water from irrigation wells
installed after November 1, 1968, except
equivalent wells drilled to replace wells
installed before that date, in the alluvium and
valley side terrace deposits within one mile from
the thread of the river and between the mouth of
Walnut creek and the Kansas-Nebraska state line
on the Little Blue river and between the mouth of
Turkey creek and the Kansas-Nebraska state line
on the Big Blue river (as delineated on exhibits
A and B of Supplement No. 1 to the report of the
engineering committee) provided that, if the
regulation of such wells fails to yield any
measurable increases in flows at the state-line
gaging stations as determined by the
investigations to be undertaken under Article
III, paragraph 3.4, the regulation of such wells
shall be discontinued. Determination of the
effect on streamflow of the pumping of such wells
shall rest with the administration.
Delivery of water under the terms of this
article shall be deemed to be in compliance with
its provisions when the amounts passing the
state-line gaging stations are substantially
equivalent to the scheduled amounts. Minor
irregularities in flow shall be disregarded.
(c) The storage capacity provided in
reservoirs in the Little Blue river basin in
Nebraska shall be limited to a total of 200,000
acre-feet. Similarly, the storage capacity in
reservoirs in the Big Blue river basin in
Nebraska shall be limited to 500,000 acre-feet.
These limitations are exclusive of storage
capacity that may be found necessary for
regulation and use of waters imported into these
basins in Nebraska; exclusive of storage capacity
in small reservoir projects where the storage of
water for subsequent use is less than 200
acre-feet; exclusive of storage capacity
allocated to sedimentation and flood control; and
exclusive of storage capacity allocated to, and
from which water is released to accomplish,
low-flow augmentation for improvement of water
quality, for fishery, wildlife, or recreation
purposes, or for meeting the flow schedules at
the Kansas-Nebraska state line as set out in
Article V, paragraph 5.2.
5.3 Kansas apportionment. The state of
Kansas shall have free and unrestricted use of
all waters of the Big Blue river basin flowing
into Kansas from Nebraska in accordance with this
compact, and of all waters of the basin
originating in Kansas, excepting such waters as
may, in the future, flow from Kansas into
Nebraska.
5.4 Transbasin diversion. In the event of
any importation of water into the Big Blue river
basin by either state, the state making the
importation shall have exclusive use of such
imported water, including identifiable return
flows therefrom. Neither state shall authorize
the exportation from the Big Blue river of water
originating within that basin without the
approval of the administration. Article
VI--Water Quality Control
6.1 The states of Kansas and Nebraska
mutually agree to the principle of individual
state efforts to control natural and man-made
water pollution within each state and to the
continuing support of both states in active water
pollution control programs.
6.2 The two states agree to cooperate,
through their appropriate state agencies, in the
investigation, abatement, and control of sources
of alleged interstate pollution within the Big
Blue river basin whenever such sources are called
to their attention by the administration.
6.3 The two states agree to cooperate in
maintaining the quality of the waters of the Big
Blue river basin at or above such water quality
standards as may be adopted, now or hereafter, by
the water pollution control agencies of the
respective states in compliance with the
provisions of the federal water quality act of
1965, and amendments thereto.
6.4 The two states agree to the principle
that neither state may require the other to
provide water for the purpose of water quality
control as a substitute for adequate waste
treatment. Article VII--General Provisions
7.1 Right to store water in upper state.
The right of the state of Kansas or of any
person, corporation, local agency, or entity in
Kansas to construct or participate in the future
construction and use of any storage reservoir or
diversion works in the Big Blue and Little Blue
basins of Nebraska for the purpose of regulating
water to be used in Kansas shall never be denied:
Provided, That such right is subject to the laws
of the state of Nebraska and that any such
storage for use by Kansas shall be excluded from
the limitations on storage under Article V,
paragraph 5.2
(c).
Releases of water from storage provided by
Kansas interests in the state of Nebraska shall
not be counted toward meeting the minimum flow
requirements at the state line under the
provisions of paragraph 5.2 (b).
7.2 Disclaimer. Nothing contained in this
compact shall be deemed:
(1) To impair, extend, or otherwise affect
any right or power of the United States, its
agencies, or its instrumentalities involved
herein;
(2) To subject to the laws of the states of
Kansas and Nebraska any property or rights of the
United States that were not subject to the laws
of those states prior to the date of this
compact;
(3) To interfere with or impair the right
or power of either signatory state to regulate
within its boundaries the appropriation, use, and
control of waters within that state consistent
with its obligations under this compact.
7.3 Invalidity in part. Should a court of
competent jurisdiction hold any part of this
compact to be contrary to the constitution of
either signatory state or to the constitution of
the United States, all other severable provisions
of this compact shall continue in full force and
effect.
7.4 Future review. After the expiration of
five years following the effective date of this
compact, the administration may review any
provisions hereof; and it shall meet for such
review whenever a member of the administration
from either state requests such review. All
provisions hereof shall remain in full force and
effect until changed and amended within the
intent of the compact by unanimous action of the
administration, and until such changes in this
compact are ratified by the legislatures of the
respective states and are consented to by the
congress of the United States, in the same manner
that this compact is required to be ratified and
consented to before it becomes effective.
7.5 Termination. This compact may be
terminated at any time by appropriate action of
the legislatures of both signatory states. In the
event of amendment or termination of the compact,
the water-resource developments made in
compliance with, and reliant upon, this compact
shall continue unimpaired. Article
VIII--Ratification
8.1 This compact shall become binding and
obligatory when it shall have been ratified by
the legislature of each state and consented to by
the congress of the United States and when the
congressional act consenting to this compact
includes the consent of congress to name and join
the United States as a party in any litigation in
the United States supreme court, if the United
States is an indispensable party and if the
litigation arises out of this compact or its
application, and if a signatory state is a party
thereto.
8.2 Notice of ratification by the
legislature of each state shall be given by the
governor of that state to the governor of the
other state and to the president of the United
States, and the president is hereby requested to
give notice to the governor of each state of the
consent by the congress of the United States.
In Witness Whereof the authorized
representatives have executed three counterparts
hereof, each of which shall be and constitute an
original, one of which shall be deposited with
the administrator of general services of the
United States, and one of which shall be
forwarded to the governor of each state.
Done at Lincoln, Nebraska, this 25th day of
January 1971.
Keith S. Krause
Commissioner for the state of Kansas
Dan S. Jones, Jr.
Commissioner for the state of Nebraska
Approved: Elmo W. McClendon Representative of the
United States of America
(Here follows: "Big Blue River Basin:
Kansas-Nebraska; Basin Map")