NRD Board Levies Groundwater Penalty

A Nance County landowner has been penalized four years of irrigation by the Lower Loup NRD Board of Directors.  Robert Prokop of Wilber, who owns land in Nance County, was found to have violated the NRD's groundwater management rules.

Following a public hearing in May, the NRD Board voted in June to impose a penalty that means no irrigation on Prokop's Nance County land from 2018 through 2021.  This is the second time a penatly has been imposed on Prokop for failure to file required reports with the Lower Loup NRD.

The land in question lies in the District's Phase III Groundwater Management Area.  That area, Water Quality Area 28, stretches from near south of Palmer to south of Columbus south of the Loup River in the LLNRD.  Given high nitrates in the groundwater, landowners there are required to report on water use, fertilizer application and other information.  

Prokop will be allowed to continue irrigation in 2017, but will end at the end of the current crop season.  Irrigation will not be allowed on the field until the 2022 season. 

Prokop challenged the NRD's first action against him in District Court.  The court found in favor of the LLNRD.