SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
APRIL 7, 2005   6:00 PM

 CPNRD to Take Stand on DNR’s Proposed Regulations

The Central Platte Natural Resources District’s board of directors held a special board meeting on Thursday, April 7, 2005, in Grand Island.  The board voted to notify the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) of the NRD’s strong support for using the Cooperative Hydrology Study to determine any management boundaries, and to use the 40 year/28 percent line to determine regulations as part of the DNR’s fully appropriated designation.

The designations are part of a requirement of LB962, which the Nebraska Legislature passed in April 2004.  LB962 reflects a consensus that was reached in December by the Water Policy Task Force appointed in 2002 by former Governor Mike Johanns.  The bill aims to make the state of Nebraska and the 23 Natural Resources Districts more proactive in anticipating and preventing conflicts between groundwater users and surface water users.

The Bill requires the DNR to evaluate each water basin and determine if each basin is fully appropriated or over appropriated.  Each basin is then required to develop an Integrated Management Plan to manage all hydrologically connected groundwater and surface water.  Annual determinations of those not designated as fully or over appropriated will also be made.  The designation of a basin is determined by evaluating whether if further development were to occur, the balance between water use and water supplies could not be sustained.

The Central Platte NRD is determined by the DNR to be fully appropriated.  The designation places a stay on new permits for surface water use and new irrigated acres on those areas that the Central Platte NRD placed under temporary suspension in February 2003 and will remain until the Platte River Basin implements an Integrated Management Plan. 

In February 2004, the DNR used the Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) and the 40/28 line to designate the Central Platte basin as fully appropriated.  This 40/28 line is determined by calculating the point back from a river or stream where a well were to be placed and pumped for 40 years, the total volume pumped would show up as a depletion to the river.  The DNR will be using a different method called SDF or Streamflow Depletion Factor on the rest of the basins in Nebraska. 

The Central Platte NRD is insisting that the DNR use the COHYST method instead of the SDF method in areas where it is available because it is more scientific and more accurate.  The DNR is also considering using a different line such as a 50 year/10 percent line, which would calculate the impact of a well for 50 years pumping and 10 percent depletion to the river.

These new considerations by the DNR could create more regulations within the Central Platte NRD by placing a stay on new permits for surface water use and no new irrigated acres on the entire District until an Integrated Management Plan is in place.  The Integrated Management Plan may be developed and implemented within three years.