NE farmers save water, get money

Dozens of landowners near Nebraska's Republican River jump at the chance to quit irrigating in exchange for money

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)--More than five dozen landowners near the Republican River have offered to stop irrigating about 5,500 acres in return for financial incentives.

"That's about what we expected," said Dave Griffith of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Farmers who use groundwater near the Republican River and its tributaries had to apply by Aug. 11.

The state and the Upper Republican, Middle Republican, Lower Republican and Tri-Basin natural resources districts came up with nearly $1.7 million for the incentives.

Under the National Resources Conservation Service program, farmers will receive $100 an acre for three years if, under a permanent easement, they stop irrigating.

The state and the natural resources districts also will provide one-time payments of $375 an acre, said Steve Chick, state conservationist for the service.

The targeted land lies roughly within three miles of the river or a tributary.

With a permanent easement, the landowner forfeits any future irrigation rights on the land but can still use it for dryland crops or grass. The easement would remain with the land, even if it were sold or transferred.

A recent report for the state estimated that continuing heavy irrigation in the Republican River basin could cost Nebraska as much as $334 million.

In the report by University of Nebraska agricultural economist Ray Supalla, he estimated the potential cost for complying with a water use agreement the state signed in 1943 for the Republican River basin.

The agreement allocated the annual supply in the Republican basin. Nebraska gets 49 percent, Kansas gets 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.

But Nebraska has been using more than its share.

Kansas filed a lawsuit in 1998, arguing that Nebraska breached the compact by allowing the proliferation and use of thousands of wells connected to the river and its tributaries.

Nebraska argued that groundwater use was not regulated by the compact, which also was signed by Colorado, because it was signed before deep-well irrigation was used in the river basin.

The U.S. Supreme Court later approved the settlement of the dispute.

Nebraska did not have to pay money damages as a result of the settlement, but it would be forced to if Kansas does not get its share of the water.

Earlier this year, members of the Nebraska Bostwick Irrigation District voted to sell their 2006 water allotment to the state--which will send it down the Republican River to Kansas--for about $2.5 million.

Date: 8/23/06

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