Our part of eastern Kansas always has been blessed with an adequate – plentiful, compared to much of the state – supply of water. A dispute now playing out in the Eudora area, however, raises a number of issues that may become more urgent as population and the demand for water grow.

The Kansas Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that challenges a new water district’s right to use eminent domain to pump groundwater out of the area between Lawrence and Eudora. This is prime Kaw Valley farmland and farmers in that area depend on wells to irrigate their crops.

Now, however, the new Wholesale Water District No. 25 plans to come onto private property and drill test wells in preparation for claiming the right to pump water out of the area and send it to rural water district customers in Douglas, Franklin, Osage and Shawnee counties.

Farmers and other area people interested in expanded food production in the Kaw Valley say that water should stay there and be used for agricultural purposes. The water district says there is more water than current agriculture interests use and the district should be able to use that water to serve its customers, which now number about 10,000 – and growing.

Kansas water law is a complicated area, but as demand for water increases, state lawmakers may have to revisit those laws to find new ways to deal with competing water needs.

From a philosophical standpoint, it seems residences should take precedence because of the basic human need for water. But if those residents were using the water to irrigate their lawns or fill their swimming pools, their “need” might diminish in comparison to the need of people who were producing food for our tables.

The availability of water is important not only to residential development but also to attracting business and industry to an area. If water is pumped from one county to another, the county losing water could also be losing an important economic development advantage for the future.

The rural water districts’ current need for additional water may be temporarily addressed by the city of Lawrence, which confirmed Monday that it is working on a contract to sell excess city water to Rural Water District No. 5, one of three districts that formed Wholesale District No. 25. The agreement also would allow the district to install as many water meters as it deems necessary, rather than having that number limited by the city, as it has been in the past.

It remains to be seen whether a contract with the city would cause the rural water districts to back off on their pumping plans, but even if they do, it’s likely to be only a temporary respite. As residential development continues in the rural areas of northeastern Kansas, this issue almost certainly will be back on the table within a few years.