Arkansas River Compact Administration to meet in GC on Friday

(Special to westernkansasnews.com)

MANHATTAN, KAN. — The Arkansas River Compact Administration (ARCA) annual meeting will be held on Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, at 9:00 a.m. CST at the Clarion Inn, 1911 E Kansas Ave. in Garden City. The meeting agenda is posted on ARCA’s website at www.co-ks-arkansasrivercompactadmin.org.

ARCA administers provisions of the Kansas–Colorado Arkansas River Compact, including operations of the John Martin Reservoir. Topics to be covered at the annual meeting include a review of John Martin Reservoir operations, compliance update, committee reports, and updates from state and federal agencies. ARCA will consider the continued use of a new source water to replace evaporation and potentially fill the John Martin Reservoir recreation account. A specific project that will be reviewed is the inspection of the stilling basin below John Martin Reservoir that is being done during the non-irrigation season.

ARCA’s Engineering, Operations, and Administrative and Legal committees will meet on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018, starting at 1:00 p.m. CST, also at the Clarion Inn.

The annual meeting and committee meetings are open to the public. Individuals who require special accommodation should notify Stephanie Gonzales at 719-734-5367 at least three days prior to the meeting.

The Kansas-Colorado Arkansas River Compact was negotiated in 1948 between Kansas and Colorado with participation by the federal government. Its stated purposes are to settle existing disputes and remove causes of future controversy between Colorado and Kansas regarding Arkansas River water and to equitably divide and apportion the water between Colorado and Kansas, including benefits arising from John Martin Reservoir.