By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

TOPEKA -- In its current form, legislation brought forward by a task force whose primary mission was to conserve water in the Ogallala Aquifer actually will end up adding to the ongoing water decline.

That's because an amendment by the Senate Agriculture Committee will give a free pass to irrigators for any excess water pumped while trying to quench the thirst of drought-ravaged crops last year. The bill also would exempt any excessive water use this year, provided irrigators enroll in the new multi-year flex program.

As a result, as much as 100,000 acre-feet -- nearly 32 billion gallons and enough to provide water to the city of Hays for the next 43 years -- beyond what was permitted might have been pumped last year and would be forgiven. An acre-foot contains about 326,000 gallons.

On Thursday, the bill -- something of a political football -- was passed out of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and is expected to go to the House floor this week for final action.

The Kansas Senate in late January approved the measure 39-0.

While Kansas Water Office Director Tracy Streeter hopes the flexibility offered under the program ultimately ends up saving water, he admits that might not be the case.

"It is not aquifer neutral anymore," he said after the bill passed out of the House committee.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback declined comment beyond what Streeter said.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Powell, R-Garden City, wants the amendment retained.

"That's one of the things we don't need to fight over," Powell said a day before his committee gave its stamp of approval. "We need to get it done."

It likely would have been political suicide to take it out.

Powell is in a tight race against Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and widely credited for tacking the amendment on to the bill.

Both men hail from an irrigation intensive area, one especially hard hit by the drought.

Approximately 350 irrigators in the contested Senate District would benefit from the amendment.

It's not yet known exactly how much extra water was pumped from wells covered by the more than 2,000 drought-term permits -- a special two-year program that let irrigators pump more water than their permits allowed. Without the pending legislation, they would have been required to reduce pumping this year to make up the difference.

While estimates vary, that overpumping could total as much as 100,000 acre-feet of water.

With meter readings from only about 600 of the 2,250 wells covered by the more than 2,000 term permits, the average use beyond what was allowed by existing annual permits amounted to about 50 acre-feet.

Not all of the wells pumped more than what was allowed by water permits, but some apparently pumped a lot more, cutting well into this year's allocation.

While it is a relatively small amount, based on the estimated 4 million acre-feet of water expected to be used, it still runs counter to the Ogallala task force -- created by the Kansas Water Authority as an outgrowth of Brownback's water summit where the charge was given to "promote water conservation, grow the economy and create jobs in western Kansas."

After a series of meetings, four recommendations were presented to the KWA and ultimately to Brownback, who presented them to the Kansas Legislature.

"The Ogallala Aquifer is the primary source of water for the western third of Kansas," KWA and Ogallala task force chairman Gary Harshberger said at the time the initiatives were announced. "It is essential to find ways to help extend and conserve the life of the aquifer."

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The proposals included:

* Amending the state's Water Appropriation Act to eliminate the "use it or lose it" provision for groundwater rights in areas closed to new water rights.

* Creation of new Local Enhancement Management Plans provision to let only groundwater management districts take specific action to address over-pumping in high-use areas.

* Allow expansion of a groundwater banking plan, allowing shifting of water rights in water-short areas.

* Allow irrigators to enroll in five-year flex accounts, essentially allowing irrigators to use five year's worth of water however they see fit.

Last year's drought pushed the flex account to the forefront of the planning process, hoping to let irrigators use extra water in especially dry years while cutting back in wetter years.