Terms Used In Kansas Statutes 82a-726

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Chief engineer: means the chief engineer of the division of water resources of the Kansas department of agriculture. See Kansas Statutes 82a-701
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Person: shall mean and include a natural person, a partnership, an organization, a corporation, a municipality and any agency of the state or federal government. See Kansas Statutes 82a-701
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Kansas Statutes 77-201

(a) Any person intending to divert and transport water produced from a point or points of diversion located in this state for use in another state, shall make application to the chief engineer for a permit to appropriate water for beneficial use or file an application for change in point of diversion, place of use, type of use or any combination thereof. Subject to the provisions of subsection (b), the chief engineer shall approve such application upon such terms, conditions and limitations that the chief engineer shall deem necessary for the protection of public interest, including an express condition that if any such water is necessary to protect the public health and safety of the citizens of this state, such approved application may be suspended, modified or revoked by the chief engineer for such necessity.

(b) The chief engineer shall approve an application pursuant to this section only if the chief engineer finds that:

(1) The diversion and transportation of such water complies with the Kansas water appropriation act, the water transfer act and any other state law pertaining to such diversion, transportation and use of water;

(2) the statutes and common law of the state where such water will be used do not prohibit the use of water at the proposed place of use or for the proposed type of use, or both, if the water were to be diverted in that state; and

(3) the proposed diversion and transportation of water will not allow water apportioned to the state of Kansas by an interstate water compact to be used in another state.

(c) In order to make the finding required by subsection (b)(2), the chief engineer shall rely on a determination by the attorney general of the other state of whether the proposed use would be prohibited in that state.