Topeka ? ThereâÂÂs a new plan for rationing the fuel that drives one of the stateâÂÂs most powerful economic engines – and Kansas lawmakers donâÂÂt like it.

A proposal to close much of southwest Kansas to future water mining met bitter resistance Tuesday from lawmakers, signaling a certain increase in tensions about use of a valuable but dwindling resource – the Ogallala Aquifer.

Two years ago, Gov. Bill Graves set the goal of zero depletion in Kansas of the ancient, massive underground reservoir that stretches across eight states.

But scientists say overpumping continues, dropping the water table to dangerously low levels.

âÂÂThe amount of water being withdrawn in general in the western area of Kansas is greater than the amount of recharge,â said Don Whittemore, a senior scientist and chief of the geohydrology section at the Kansas Geological Survey at Kansas University. âÂÂThat means that the water level on the average over the years is continuing to decline.âÂÂ

And despite the state taking steps to manage the aquifer, he said, it was nowhere near Gravesâ goal.

But the battle is about more than hydrological theory.

Economic fuel

Southwest Kansas is one of the nationâÂÂs most important agricultural areas, with millions of acres of irrigated crops and the highest concentration of feedlots in the United States. The feedlots supply cattle to the packinghouses that feed the nation and employ thousands.

The pumped water is the fuel for one of the stateâÂÂs most powerful economic engines, and the needle on the fuel gauge is fluttering.

Officials from the Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District No. 3 have a proposal to do something about the depletion. But they were called on the carpet by lawmakers for a proposal that would shut down further appropriation of water in a handful of counties in the Liberal area. Many areas of the district already have been closed to further water development.

The plan, if enacted, effectively would halt further irrigation development in the district.

Hank Hansen, executive director of the groundwater district, said the proposal was necessary to reduce demand on the aquifer, which he said saw an unprecedented decline from 15 feet to 24 feet in the water table from 1999 through 2001 in seven areas of southwest Kansas.

Hansen said without such change, senior water rights would be impaired, junior water rights would be terminated, and federal officials could impose a widespread ban on pumping because both the Cimarron and Arkansas rivers in that area have been declared critical habitat for a threatened species of fish.

Whose rights?

But state legislators werenâÂÂt buying it.

âÂÂYou still got the fox guarding the henhouse,â said state Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley.

He and other members of the House-Senate Committee on Rules and Regulations said board members of the groundwater district were just protecting their own water rights for irrigation purposes.

The 15-member groundwater board includes 14 irrigators and an industrial representative.

âÂÂThe board makeup is a serious issue,â said Sen. Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe. âÂÂClearly, they are voting for their own personal profit because they hold the water rights.âÂÂ

The committee does not have the authority to prevent the groundwater district from banning further water appropriations, but it told the district and state Water Resources Division that if the proposal were enacted, there would be trouble in the next legislative session.

Rep. Carl Holmes, R-Liberal, threatened to place âÂÂpoison pillsâ in legislation next year to change the way district board members are elected. Currently, only people or entities with a water right can vote in elections for board members. This gives agricultural interests significant power because each farmer may have a water right, while a city of thousands of people also may have just one water right.

Finding solutions

The rules committee also recommended that the district look for solutions to the problem of depleting the aquifer.

âÂÂAt some point we have to look at beyond the near-term,â Clark said. âÂÂCurrently, we have a use-it or-lose-it philosophy.âÂÂ

Officials from Morton, Seward and Stevens counties spoke against the proposed rules, saying they would curtail development in Kansas while allowing neighboring Oklahoma to pump water from beneath Kansas lands.

Also, they said, the restrictions werenâÂÂt needed because the aquifer in that area was not badly depleted. They said their counties would be punished for the overuse of water in counties in the northern part of the groundwater district, namely Finney County, home of fast-growing Garden City.

A public hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for Dec. 11 in Garden City.