We didn't think there would be much opposition to Gov. Sam Brownback's proposed amendments to the Water Appropriation Act. The common-sense changes were supported by the Ogallala Aquifer Advisory Committee, local water districts, the Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Water Office and the Kansas Water Authority before even being introduced in the Legislature. When all of the biggest stakeholders have consensus on a subject, the outcome is easy to predict.

Sure enough, the first two amendments have sailed through both chambers with nary a vote against. Both House Bill 2451, which eliminates the "use it or lose it" provision, and Senate Bill 272, which expands flex accounts for irrigators from two years to five years, were passed unanimously.

Still working their way through the legislative process are the creation of Local Enhancement Management Plans and the expansion of a groundwater banking plan.

Collectively, the four bills encompass the governor's reformed water policy for the state. And since all are intended to conserve and extend the life of the Ogallala Aquifer without wrecking the economy of western Kansas, it's good to see progress being made.

As Brownback said in an interview last week: "Water has no value if there's no water in the bottom of the hole. If we're to have a future, we have to have water."

We couldn't agree more. Too many years of continued Ogallala depletion and non-stop drought conditions have brought the state to a critical juncture. If the aquifer ever runs dry, much of western Kansas would not be suitable for livestock and farming operations made possible by irrigation -- let alone human habitation.

So a counter-intuitive provision inserted into SB272 baffles us. It allows irrigators who pumped water in excess of their yearly allotment last year and this year to not count it in the five-year flex plan. As not all the reports are in, how much water that amounts to is unknown. We do know last year's excess water could be as much as 100,000 acre feet, or almost 32 billion gallons. That's enough to supply the city of Hays for 43 years.

When the amendment was tacked on, Kansas Water Office Director Tracy Streeter said: "(The bill) is not aquifer neutral anymore."

Yet not one legislator voted against the bill. Legislation that is billed as saving water, yet with that provision actually will deplete the aquifer even further -- and no questions were raised?

"That's one of the things we don't need to fight over," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Powell, R-Garden City.

We couldn't disagree more. What started out as a good measure has turned in the opposite direction. Gov. Brownback needs to veto SB272. After all, "water has no value if there's no water in the bottom of the hole."

Editorial by Patrick Lowry

plowry@dailynews.net