Kansas not willing to compromose

A long-time Nebraska farmer once made an interesting observation.

You can have a neighbor who is so honest that, if you asked him to look after your wallet for a few days, you wouldn't bother to count the cash when you got it back.

Yet that same neighbor, if he shared an irrigation ditch, wouldn't hesitate to take more than his share; in effect, stealing water from you and money out of your bank account.

Outgoing U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne once expressed the opinion that our neighboring state to the south surely wouldn't want Nebraska farms to go out of business.

He should have spent some time with that old farmer; then he'd know a simple truth: When it comes to water, all bets are off.

Kansas won a lawsuit with Nebraska in 2003, which didn't cost Nebraska taxpayers cash, but requires us to make serious cuts in the amount of water we take out of the Republican River Basin.

Now, according to a Topeka Capital-Journal article, Nebraska is projected to use 56 billion gallons more water than authorized under the Republican River Compact settlement, and Colorado is taking 19 billion gallons more.

Kansas has no intention of letting the issue slide.

Speaking to the Kansas House-Senate committee, Kansas attorney general and state Department of Agriculture staffers are asking for more money to take Nebraska and Colorado back to court if need be.

And they aren't bluffing. Kansas has spent $23.5 million on water litigation over the last 20 years, and wants at least $1.1 million for the next two years to apply legal pressure on Nebraska and Colorado.

"We must be vigilant to protect the victories we won in court," deputy attorney general David Davies told the committee.

"This is an ongoing battle," Constantine Cotsoradis, assistant agricultural secretary said. "I don't use that term loosely."

"Water is like gold," said Sen. Mark Taddiken, chairman of the Kansas Senate Agriculture Committee. "It's an economic lifeline."

According to the story in the Capital-Journal, Kansas doesn't sound like it's willing to compromise.