November 6, 2018
The Grand Island Independent :
The Central Platte Natural Resources District’s board of directors voted to lift the 180-day temporary stay on new wells and new irrigated acres at its October board meeting.
The stay was implemented to update the rules and regulations for the fully and over-appropriated areas of the district. During the temporary stay, the acre transfer tool was updated and new depletion numbers were implemented. The new numbers were determined by the Cooperative Hydrology Study model used for the groundwater quantity management program.
The lift, along with the new rules and regulations, were effective Nov. 1.
Changes will include:
Supplemental and Replacement Wells — The rule now emphasizes that new wells irrigating new acres are not allowed. Supplemental and replacement wells are still allowed.
Transfer Schedule — A timeline was added for the transfer applications. The CPNRD staff will now accept transfer applications from Sept. 1 through March 1 for irrigated acres.
Sub-Area Transfer — The amount of time that a sub-area is required to stay under the transfer limit rule was increased from two consecutive years to five consecutive years. The sub-area transfer rule does not allow transfers or supplemental wells until the sub-area groundwater level meets or exceeds 25 percent of the maximum acceptable decline.
The Rules and Regulations are available for download at cpnrd.org or by calling the Central Platte NRD office at (308) 385-6282.
