NEW IRRIGATION APPLICATIONS SET RECORD, EXCEED LIMIT BY OVER 20,000 ACRES

Applications for new irrigated acres in the Lower Loup NRD total 23,878.62, nearly eight times the number to be granted. District personnel said only 3,000 of the new acres requests will be granted.

The development of up to 3,000 new acres of groundwater irrigation was approved by the Lower Loup Natural Resources District Board of Directors earlier in the year. NRD General Manager Leon "Butch" Koehlmoos said the number of acres being sought in 572 different applications was the most ever received in the three years applications had been taken.

Applications for new irrigation were accepted from September 1st through the 20th, 2011. District staff are now ranking the applications 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. He said each applicant would be notified of their submissions' outcome by December 1st.

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 9/28/11.