Kudos to the Upper Republican NRD

Dear Editor,

I would like to applaud the Upper Republican Natural Resources District for its proactive plan to help keep the state in compliance with the Republican River Compact and protect farmers throughout the basin.

I am one of those farmers close to a tributary who faced the possibility of being shutdown in a dry year to help generate enough stream flow to stay in compliance with the compact.

While I understood the need for the shutdown option -- unfortunately the compact is all about stream flow and the closer you are to the river the more substantial of an impact irrigation has -- I obviously didn't like it. The district's decision to buy and retire thousands of irrigated acres using the occupation tax and pipe water into the river only when needed, greatly reduces chances I and and other farmers will be shut down. Farmers throughout the basin want to be treated fairly -- this does it, especially in our NRD.

I also like it for another reason. It will help preserve water resources in our area. Less water than what has historically been pumped on the ground being retired will be piped into Rock Creek to help with compact compliance and it's expected water will be piped just every three or four years at the most. The project will help extend the life of the aquifer, protect the economy of our area and maintain compact compliance.

Without the constant pressure of devising and implementing actions needed to stay within its compact allocation, our district may be able to fucus even more on management of water in areas where there have been water-table declines that don't have a significant impact on stream flow and compact compliance, but deserve attention.

It was time to take the bull by the horns for the good of the state, basin and our NRD. This project, while it doesn't eliminate the need for regulations and more acre retirement to help with compliance, is a big step in the right direction.

Sincerely,

Bart Stromberger,

Champion, Nebraska