NATE JENKINS / The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 6:00 pm
Natural resources districts in the water-short Republican River basin have approved a plan that calls for more money and actions to help avoid costly lawsuits from Kansas.
The plan does not propose new regulations on water use, something Gov. Dave Heineman and the state’s top water official have said is needed to put the state in compliance with a three-state water compact that includes Kansas and that Nebraska may break this year — possibly making the state liable for damages.
But while the plan lacks specific, new water-use regulations, members and directors of the resources districts are increasingly acknowledging that regulations will eventually be part of a compliance package.
The plan approved the past couple days by boards of the three resources districts covering the upper, middle and lower sections of the river basin says new regulations “may be necessary to achieve the goal of maintaining compact compliance.”
Ann Bleed, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said in written testimony to a legislative committee Wednesday that less water use must be part of water-management plans, beginning next year. Bleed said she is optimistic that the state and NRDs will develop plans to keep the state in compliance with the three-state compact.
An ongoing drought, too many irrigation wells and a legal obligation to share water with Kansas have put Nebraska in a pinch.
The funding plan from the NRDs calls for the Legislature to extend for five years a 3-cent property-tax levy each of the districts can impose, would provide unspecified amounts from the state to match local dollars used for water management, and also seeks the ability for the districts to “assess an additional levy and/or fees,” according to a copy of the plan. The plan does not specify what kind of fees.
But one possibility is a $10 fee for each acre of irrigated land, according to Jasper Fanning, manager of the Upper Republican NRD. Other NRDs support property taxes, Fanning said.
The NRDs want state and local dollars to be used to reduce water use. Measures could include purchasing water that would otherwise go to irrigators, pumping water into the Republican River to go downstream to Kansas, and clearing vegetation, among other things.
A bill (LB458) that would begin the process of clearing decades of tree and brush growth that consume possibly thousands of acre feet of water annually was one of two considered by a legislative committee in a packed hearing room Wednesday. While it would save some water, state officials, ranchers and others have said clearing vegetation would not be a major step in assuring the state is in compliance with the water compact.
Another bill (LB701) from Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial calls for cuts in irrigation but would allow farmers to increase irrigation on some acres by using water transfers and buying water from each other.
A determination is set for August on whether Nebraska has overused the amount of Republican River water it is allocated under the three-state compact. Early estimates of water use last year show Nebraska will likely be out of compliance.
Kansas officials have indicated they are calculating how much they may demand in penalties from the state.
Bleed wants to be able to describe to Kansas officials in August how Nebraska plans to comply with the compact in hopes they will not sue.