LOWER LOUP NRD BOARD SETS PENALTY FOR ILLEGAL IRRIGATION
Irrigators who violate the Lower Loup Natural Resources District regulations prohibiting the irrigation of uncertified acres will face the loss of twice as many acres the following crop year. That penalty was approved by the NRD’s Board of Directors at their meeting February 24th and will be applied in the case of two Boone County irrigators found to be watering acres not certified with the District.
The Lower Loup Board had received three potential penalty options from the NRD’s Water Resources Committee. The option selected includes:
1) The violator is required to set aside two times the number of acres that were in violation. These acres shall be within the same irrigation system as the certified acres, the same stream depletion factor section or a higher stream depletion factor section.
a. The acres will be set aside all in one year
b. The acres could be set aside in multiple years in certain situations and with Board approval
c. To set aside shall mean to not irrigate these acres
d. The non-certified acres would still be considered non-certified and the producer would have to transfer irrigated acres into this area to irrigate them
2) The second offense would be considered a violation of the cease and desist order and would go to District Court or assess a stricter penalty of four times the acres
3) The third offense would be to declare irrigation well(s) illegal
a. Place restrictions:
i. Meter and restrict amount of total water use and/or
ii. Removal of certified acres and/or
iii. Modification of well use and/or
iv. Abandonment of well
The NRD Board approved defining “violator” as including the landowner and the operator of the acres on which the violation occurred and went on to say that if a violator repeats violation on same tract or another tract, it is considered a second violation and violator would be denied any variances on all land for a period of three years.
The other penalty options presented to the NRD Board included requiring three times the number of acres to offset a violation; or declaring the irrigation well or wells illegal followed by options of requiring water meters, loss of certified acres, modified well use, and/or abandonment of the wells.
At its January meeting, the Lower Loup NRD Board of Directors found that Boone County irrigators, Richard Dozler and David Dozler, both of Albion, were in violation of the NRD’s Groundwater Management rules and regulations by irrigating non-certified acres. Cease and desist orders were issued to both parties and the Board requested that its Water Resources Committee make recommendations as to penalties for the offense.
The Boone County infraction was found through the use of infrared aerial photographs taken of the entire Natural Resources District. The photographs showed a center pivot system irrigating land not certified to the NRD as irrigated.
