The Kansas-Lower Republican covers nearly 10,500 square miles of
northeastern Kansas. The basin includes all or part of 24
counties. The basin has the largest population of all the
twelve major river basins, with an estimated 1,025,644 residents
in the year 2000. The population is projected to grow to nearly
1,531,000 in the year 2040. Major streams are the Kansas,
Republican, Big Blue, Little Blue, Delaware and Wakarusa rivers,
and the Vermillion and Stranger creeks. The major reservoirs in
the basin are Lovewell, Milford, Tuttle Creek, Perry and
Clinton.
Most of the bottom land and about 50 percent of the uplands are
cultivated to crops of corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, wheat and
oats. Alfalfa, wild hay, corn and sorghum silage are the major
forage crops. The most important mineral resources in the basin
are oil, natural gas, coal, building stone and ceramic
materials.
Sources of water used in the basin is 58 percent surface and 42
percent ground water. Irrigation is the largest water use in
the basin (54%) followed by municipal at 30 percent. Industrial
uses account for 3 percent of water used.
Wide extremes in temperature and precipitation are
characteristic. The length of the growing season typically
extends from mid April to mid October.
Average annual precipitation over the basin increases from about
28 inches in the west to about 38 inches in the east.
Typically, about 70 percent of this total falls during the
growing season. Flood events, such as in July 1993 and the
drought experienced from 1952-1956, underscore the variability
in precipitation.
The Republican River Compact is an important water management force
in the basin. The Republican River Compact, established between
Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska in 1943, apportioned the waters of
the Republican River among the three states. Over the past
decade, Kansas has expressed concern to the compact
administration about depletion of stream flow and Nebraska’s
failure to comply with the compact. After attempts to resolve
the issue through the compact commission and direct meetings
with the State of Nebraska, the 1998 Kansas Legislature passed
House Concurrent Resolution #5030 requiring the Attorney General
to bring suit against the State of Nebraska to enforce the
provisions of the Republican River Compact. Kansas initiated
litigation through the United States Supreme Court in May 1998.
