Kansas, Feds Gave Up Refuge’s Water Rights, Conservationists Say

The Interior Department worked with Kansas officials to withdraw water rights protections for a “wetland of international importance,” according to a complaint filed by a wildlife conservation group in federal district court in Kansas.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds a senior Kansas water right for the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, but has neglected its duty to protect both the right and the refuge. Decades of excessive groundwater pumping by nearby entities with junior water rights have damaged and desiccated the refuge, Audubon of Kansas said in its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. ...