Hm, this research is making me thirsty...

October comes around too quickly this year.  The other day someone asked me if I was already halfway through my semester and I gasped "NO!" ...I might be in denial. 

This evening is a nice break, of sorts, from homework.  I don't mean I don't have homework tonight, I just mean I have a little bit of time outside of homework for myself: time to write, time to pick tomatoes and peppers from my garden, time to play a game or two with CJ.

What has been soaking up all my time? I am researching water rights issues in Kansas.  You know, I'm self-conscious enough about my nerdiness that I usually assume I should just stop right there, but it really is a fascinating topic... Let's see if I can sum it up:

As a state, Kansas adopted a permitting system for water that allocates each water user a certain amount of water annually, and if the water runs low (for example, during a drought), then water rights users with "younger" permits are cut off until the supply of water picks up again.  This system works great for streams and rivers, which have a finite but renewable supply at any given point, but......... it turns out that it doesn't work quite so well for underground water supplies, like the Ogallala Aquifer.  Unlike rivers and streams, groundwater remains available in any amount it can be pumped, which means that there is no built-in mechanism to limit water use to only a self-sustaining amount, and which allowed Kansas to willy nilly grant permits to anyone who could put the water to a beneficial use. 

It didn't take long to realize it might not be a good thing to be using up the water in the Ogallala Aquifer at over ten times the rate it could recharge itself. The problem is that those water permits magically turn into private property when they are granted, and no one is too keen on the state telling them they just have to stop pumping water now, or even reduce the amount.  In fact, Amendment #5 of the Constitution says that Kansas can't just take away people's property unless they pay for it, and Kansas probably can't or doesn't want to pay to buy those water rights back, so, maybe we are stuck. 

On the other hand, if nothing is done to stop the rapid decline, a lot of Kansas is going to be without water at some point in the not too distant future, and when that happens, all those pieces of private property in water permits are not going to be worth anything at all.  We are pushing voluntary conservation measures, and they sure are conserving some water, of course, but... Voluntary conservation just isn't coming close to the kind of change that would have to happen to keep the Ogallala around for more than a generation.  Is there any legal way that Kansas can or should squirm its way around the 5th Amendment, allowing it to make the tough calls on water usage?  Does Kansas have any obligation to preserve value of property in water for later by infringing on property value in water now?

Quandary.  I'll leave you hanging for a while on that one... partly for the suspense factor, but partly because I'm pretty conflicted about the answer.

Ok, I really did try to keep it short, but my quick summary turned into my entire blog post.  I hope you liked it.