Compact call year likely

Friday, September 14, 2012

CURTIS, Nebraska -- The possibility of a "Compact Call Year" for 2013 is very likely.

The impact of that compact call year designation is not completely known at this time. Streamflow through the rest of the fall and early winter can minimize that impact. In the absence of those flows, it is very likely that some curtailment of surface water and ground water may be needed for the 2013 crop year.

The NRDs have been active in developing management actions which can lessen or eliminate the need for curtailment of ground water. These actions include programs to permanently or temporarily retire uses, projects for augmentation of stream flow, and this year, we hope to be able to allow for "dry year leases" with willing ground water irrigators. These leases will provide for a one-time payment to adopt a dry land cropping system on irrigated acres for the 2013 crop year.

Utilizing up to $1,000,000 in state funds and about $500,000 of local occupation tax dollars, applications will be taken in October and contracts can be written in November. Hopefully, up to 7,000 acres can be converted to dry land crops for one year.

Actions like these can reduce ground water uses to a level that will allow ground water uses to stay within their share of the supplies of the basin. These contracts will be written with the landowner. If the ground has been leased or some other type of agreement exists, we will look for concurrence of the tenant.

Watch for further information concerning this program in your local papers or on the district website at mrnrd.org.

Producers are also forewarned of the restrictions that may be required in the near future. Our existing credits and any benefits from the dry year leases will minimize the reductions in allocations that may be required. Irrigators should be prepared, however, for the worst. You should expect that some hard cap will be set for next year's allocation.

This hard cap could be as low as 6 inches.

Leases are being renewed and allocation reductions should be factored into those leases. If you know your water requirements are higher than average you may want to consider an alternate crop, such as wheat, for some of your acres.

Several months ago, through the Nebraska Republican River Management District Association, a group that includes the basin NRDs and Irrigation Districts, we entered into an agreement with the State of Nebraska to begin a conjunctive management study and a surface water model. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation became involved in this project through its approval of a "Water Smart" grant to help fund this study. Kansas and Colorado will be involved in inputs to that study funded by the Bureau.

This study can help us look at conjunctive management of the waters of the basin rather than trying to manage surface water and ground water under the independent systems that exist in statute.

Between surface water users, senior rights are protected from junior surface water users. Under the ground water system, correlative rights allow users to use the ground water in a reasonable and beneficial manner and to share and share-alike with an equal reduction in times of shortage.

Drought has had an impact on the current storage in our reservoirs and only rainfall can bring that storage back to the levels we expect. If the state requires that natural flow be passed on to Harlan County Reservoir for compact compliance, future levels will remain low.

Wise use of our surface water and ground water supplies can maintain the economic and social well-being of the basin. Working together with all interests as we have in the past can allow us to achieve that goal.

Editor's Note: Dan Smith of Curtis, Nebraska, the general director of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District (MRNRD), explains "dry year leases," a ground water management practice that will help Nebraska stay in compliance with the 1943 Republican River Compact, an agreement that distributes the water resources of the Republican River among Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. A compact call year may be designated because of drought conditions.

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