Wakeeney ? A judge has denied a group’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented a water release from the Cedar Bluff Reservoir, bringing some relief to severe drought conditions affecting the city of Russell.

Judge William Lyle on Wednesday granted the motion from Hays City Atty. John Bird to dismiss the request for a temporary restraining order filed by Western Kansas Water Watchers, a group that supports the Cedar Bluff Reservoir.

Between 1,000 and 1,400 acre-feet of water is expected to be released down the Smoky Hill River.

“Water rights have been fought about for a long time,” Lyle said during his judgment. “And it’s not going to get any better.”

Water Watchers had filed a lawsuit against the Kansas Water Office and Division of Water Resources, seeking to void an agreement governing when water releases can be made by the cities of Hays and Russell.

Bird argued the lawsuit was faulty because proper procedures, including failure to sign the request for the restraining order under oath, were not followed.

Lyle agreed and said the group did not show it was likely to prevail in its lawsuit.

Bird also had argued that all the water rights in the Cedar Bluff Reservoir are junior to the cities of Russell and Hays. Even if the agreement with the state were not enforced, both cities would still be within their rights to request a release, he said.

“Russell owns water rights on the Smoky that are very, very senior,” Bird said, “junior only to those owned by the city of Hays.”

The release is the second since December for Russell, which has been hamstrung by a severe drought in western Kansas. Heavy demand for water by U.S. Energy Partners, a local ethanol plant, has also continued to lower the city’s water levels.

“We are relieved with the judge’s decision, and we look forward to some relief of the water situation in Russell,” said City Manager Gary Hobbie, who was among several officials from Russell and Hays attending the court hearing.

Hobbie said the city plans to release as little water as necessary from the reservoir, though he said if dry weather continues, Russell could also request a release later in the year.

Last week, city officials enacted their emergency water conservation plan, and test wells are being drilled on the Saline River.

U.S. Energy has also started buying water from another water district and is searching for its own sources of water.