WTAP Program Moves Forward
KFB

Water Transition and Assistance Program (WTAP) is a voluntary, incentive based water conservation program enacted by the Kansas Legislature during the 2005 session.  WTAP is a 5-year pilot program administered by the State Conservation Commission (SCC) which will permanently retire water rights in high priority, targeted areas including the Prairie Dog Creek and Rattlesnake Creek Subbasins.  The program allows for dryland farming and funding was capped at $1.5 million per year. 

Both “whole and partial” water rights are eligible for enrollment into WTAP.  When enrolling water rights that overlap the same irrigated land, all water rights involved must be enrolled or the overlap must be eliminated prior to enrollment. 

The primary objective of WTAP is to conserve water which will be gauged by the historic consumptive use of the water right(s) enrolled.  Consumptive use will be based upon lawful water use during the previous 6 years, disregarding the highest/lowest use years, then averaging the 4 remaining years.  The 4-year average is then multiplied times an efficiency factor based upon what type of distribution system was used.  If this calculation results in more than the 50% chance rainfall net irrigation requirement in your county, then the lesser value will be used. 

The SCC must annually report the economic impact that WTAP has on the local communities to the legislature.  Additionally, SCC will hold at least two informational meetings in the project program area prior to entering into contractual agreements.  Civil penalties may result for violating a WTAP contractual agreement. 

SCC is in the process of drafting Rules and Regulations for implementation of WTAP.  The current draft can be viewed on their web site at http://www.accesskansas.org/kscc/.  The formal Rule and Regulation process was slated to begin December 1, 2006.  Any comments regarding these draft regulations should be submitted to the SCC office or at upcoming public hearings which are yet to be determined.