NRD RECEIVES APPLICATIONS FOR 11,992 NEW IRRIGATED ACRES

Applications for new irrigated acres in the Lower Loup NRD total nearly six times the number to be granted. District personnel said only 2,000 of the 11,992 acres requested will be granted.

The development of up to 2,000 new acres of groundwater irrigation was approved by the Lower Loup Natural Resources District Board of Directors earlier in the year. NRD Water Resources Specialist Del Harris said the number of acres being sought in 219 different applications was slightly under the number of acres sought the previous year, when 12,925 new acres were sought by LLNRD landowners.

Applications for new irrigation were accepted from September 1st through the 20th, 2010. District staff are now ranking the appplications using criteria approved by the NRD Board of Directors. NRD Assistant Manager Russ Callan said the criteria includes the stream depletion factors, the status of groundwater and surface water, the concentration of irrigation, the number of acres being developed, and the soil classification. NRD General Manager Leon "Butch" Koehlmoos said that, prior to the application period, the NRD Board approved modifying the criteria to give more weight to the soil types. He said the goal was to see the irrigation development on level land with better soils.

Koehlmoos said that up to 10,000 acres of new irrigation can be developed in the Lower Loup and the other NRDs in the lower Platte River Basin over a four year period thanks to a bill passed by the Nebraska Legislature. That bill, LB-483, allows limited groundwater irrigation development by NRDs in river basins where a fully-appropriated designation had been reversed.

This page last modified on 10/5/10.