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 Middle Republican NRD board members, top from left, Gayly Haag and Stan Moore of Bartley and Jerry Mustion of Culbertson, look on at Friday's conference. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge] |
The same regulation -- designed to put Nebraska into compliance with the 1943 Republican River Compact before Kansas decides to sue a second time -- could reduce pumping from upland wells by 15 percent.
Ann Bleed, acting director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, told about 200 people gathered for a water meeting in McCook Friday that these two steps are "what it would take through regulation" to ensure that Kansas gets the 40 percent of the Repub-lican's virgin water source that it is allocated in the '43 Compact.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Hein-eman told those at the conference that the "real key" to the Republican River's water issue is to "reduce consumptive use and achieve a balance between competing interests for water."
Heineman said it is not feasible to direct money to Kansas to settle Compact obligations. "The reality is that our neighbors don't really want our money. They want the water the Compact says they're entitled to," the Governor said.
Dan Smith, director of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District, based in Curtis, told 44 board members from the Middle, Lower, Upper and Tri-Basin NRDs and irrigators that water is not only "the issue of the decade," but, for the NRDs, the issue of several decades, and for producers, "the issue of a lifetime."
Bleed told irrigators, "We do not have to shut off all wells to come into compliance."
Then she explained "a possible plan, a possible way" to get the river basin into balance in five years. She stressed that this is just one approach to the problem which is that Nebraska has overused its Compact allocation since 2002; it overused 42,000 acre feet in 2005.
The proposal is "aggressive," Bleed admitted. "And there will be lots of sacrifices."
Bleed's plan calls for:
* A 15 percent reduction in pumping from wells in upland areas, where the affect of pumping on the river's stream flow is not felt quickly, but is evident over a period of years; and
* A 50 percent reduction in pumping from wells in what is called the "quick-response area," where the affect of pumping on stream flow is felt quickly.
Upland wells would be restricted to:
* 11.38 inches per year in the Upper Republican Nat-ural Resources District;
* 9 inches per year in the Middle Republican NRD; and
* 9.6 inches per year in the Lower Republican NRD.
QRW (quick-response wells) would be restricted to:
* 2.8-5.7 inches per year in the Upper Republican NRD;
* 2.7-5.3 inches per year in the Middle Republican NRD; and
* 2.4-4.8 inches per year in the Lower Republican NRD.
"It's not a pretty picture," she said to a hushed room, although, she added, what gives her hope is that these figures are not far from irrigators' voluntary reduction of acres and pumping in 2006.
"I wish it were rosier," she said, "but these are desperate times that require desperate solutions."
Bleed said that several approaches -- CREP and EQIP, vegetation removal /management and consumptive use reductions -- are making a difference. In conjunction with these efforts, controls would have to be less restrictive, she said.
Bleed said she would like to have a proposal to present to Kansas at the August 2007 Compact meeting, for implementation in 2008, 2009 and 2010. "By August 2007, I would hope we would have agreements with the DNR, the NRDs and the stakeholders of the river basin," Bleed said.
"I'm not arguing that cutting back in the QRA (quick-response area) is fair," she said. It is, however, she said, legal, and it would have a quick affect on stream flow.
Even if the ongoing drought were to end next year, Gov. Heinemann said, Nebraska's water challenges would outlast it. "No matter when it ends," he said.
The shared goal of the DNR, the NRDs and irrigators, he said, must be a reduction in consumptive use.
Heinemann said that estimates show that Nebraska could be short by as much as 200,000 acre feet of water into Kansas by the end of 2007. "While the Compact allows for water use to be calculated in a five-year rolling average, we have not been hitting our annual targets since 2002," he said.
Heinemann suggested fo-cusing on one year at a time, and continuing "to do so over a number of years."
"It will be painful," he said, "but we must reduce consumptive use to meet compliance with the Compact."
Regulation does not have to be the only approach, the governor said, mentioning vegetation management, making the best use of surface water supplies, farm programs like CREP and EQIP and university research into drought-tolerant crops.
Heinemann said he also proposes the start of a cash fund to address water challenges across the state -- not only those in the Republican River. He said he will propose setting aside general fund money to get the cash fund started.
Heineman said that these "very, very difficult decisions" are "best tackled at local levels." He warned his listeners, however, that many legislators and residents in the eastern part of the state and boards of other NRDs believe "this is a local problem that requires local solutions." He is apprehensive about the argument that the state should pick up the tab for the Republican River Valley challenges.
"If you're saying the state has the responsibility to fund 100 percent of the solution, I'll be honest with you -- there aren't 25 votes in the Legislature to make that happen."
Questions and comments included:
* Jerry Mustion of the MRNRD questioned whether Nebraska law even allows upland and alluvial wells to be controlled differently. Nebraska Assistant Attorney General Dave Cookson assured him that refinements in a 1978 law allow wells in the QRA (quick-response area) to be treated differently than others.
* Nebraska Senator-Elect Mark Christensen of Imperial said, "There are more solutions than we're looking at," suggesting the state research water lost to evapo-transpiration and evaporation. And, he said, "The amount of trees on the river have been allowed to get out of proportion." He recommended killing cottonwood trees as well as saltcedar on area lakes and rivers.
Water allocations need to take into consideration the type of soil being irrigated and its absorption rate, Christensen said.
Christensen predicted that ethanol plants won't be built or those existing won't make it if irrigators "take these big water cuts."
Christensen also questioned the affect across the entire area if irrigated land is de-valued for tax purposes to dryland. "That will affect the counties and the schools, too," he said.
* Senator-elect Tom Hansen of North Platte said that the ethanol industry is expanding in Nebraska with the understanding that water, corn and people will be available. Without those, there will be no ethanol plants in the area, he said.
Hanson said communities in Southwest Nebraska are "fragile. Take two inches (of irrigation water) away from them (the irrigators), it will affect the whole community. People will leave."
* Senator-elect Tom Carlson of Holdrege said he could feel the tension, the stress in the meeting room. "The simple problem is," he said, "there is not enough flow in the river, and we need to deliver water to Kansas."
He suggested a three-year plan of cleaning the Repub-lican River Basin of invasive species of trees and undergrowth.
Carlson said he liked the idea of reducing water allocations, and not taking land out of production.
* Jasper Fanning of the URNRD said treating upland and QRA (quick-response area) wells differently is "not equitable," asking for compensation for "the folks who are asked to shoulder an unfair share of the burden."
Fanning said, "There are alternatives to regulations," adding that he hopes Bleed's plan can be morphed into "something that we can use."
Fanning said his concern is that the economic model of the area is "much more fragile" than the hydrologic model. "The economy can't withstand the big swings that are being proposed," he said, urging that law makers look for options with the least economic impact.
* Mike Clements of the LRNRD said Bleed's proposal "is not acceptable. The question is, what kind of devastating affect will this have on seed and feed dealers? On fuel dealers?"
Clements suggested looking for a "more comprehensive, holistic approach" rather than targeting quick-response wells.
* Dale Helms of Holbrook said water cuts have already affected his crop insurance business. He suggested that the federal government "needs to step in and help," because it was the federal government that mandated conservation practices.
* Matt Harrison of the LRNRD said that 75 percent of stream depletions can be traced to land conservation practices that have reduced runoff. "No one has talked about regulating conservation practices," he said.
Harrison said that augmenting water with interbasin water transfers may be the answer.
Bleed said that is an alternative that involves getting another river basin to give up its water.
Both Bleed and Heineman said the cost involved with water transfer may be prohibitive.
* Jeff Wallin of the UPNRD asked what Kansas will do if Nebraska does not comply with the Compact. Bleed said she hopes Kansas will see that Nebraska is serious about working on compliance. Heineman said it is important that Nebraska continues to make good-faith efforts. He said he would ask Kansas to understand the compounding affect of the drought and understand and appreciate Nebraska's ef-forts.