The Lower Loup Natural Resources District Board of Directors gave approval to changes and additions to the NRD’s groundwater management rules following a public hearing in Ord September 27th. The 14 to 2 vote by the Board means the NRD’s moratorium on new groundwater well permits is extended and a limit is placed on the expansion of irrigated acres in the District beginning January 1, 2008.
The Lower Loup, which covers all or parts of 16 central Nebraska counties, has been under a self-imposed moratorium on new well permits since February of 2006. NRD General Manager Leon “Butch” Koehlmoos said the Lower Loup Board has been working to avoid a fully-appropriated basin declaration by the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources.
A fully-appropriated designation would mean that the maximum level of sustainable development of groundwater and surface water had been reached. It would also mean a loss of local control since the affected NRDs and the state must develop a joint integrated management plan for the basin. DNR officials had said the Loup Basin was very near such a declaration last year.
Other changes approved in the NRD groundwater management plan deal with groundwater quality management in areas with high nitrate levels in groundwater, the granting of variances from the NRD’s rules, and establishing a permit process for water transfers.
