Paga Eight
Summer fibrcr,5cen
C9JUR3 1977
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Inth0lheesiiNebrkwcsti!;beshn!sjofw&t
was called the Great American D-f?rt, Evea today, tir ,
; aa a grieuliursl revolution fens trsss&rssd the state, the
vista cf : the eua-psrchsJ Nebraska SaadhiuS ia
, mid-August supports that visw. ; ..- . 1 .-. .
Est beneath the surfaced Nebraska sits ca a cf the
, woriJs. krgsst underground . water .reservoirs. with 1.6
bSIiea acre-feet, en-3?-h to cover the state to a depth cf 3
.feet, the. supply seems inexhaustible.. , . .,-.'.-.-,.
: . , Bet aeccdi3E2 to Dr. Loyd Pfechtr. a University cf Neb-'
ras&a-LsEeosa
: JIIVIIWII4
$u.z3zt ci agricultural economies, tM
nr w m wr - .
The rsii test. Iter said. Is bow much ta economsetir?
available.. .La asuifers where yea csa install a well and
...w....u wiii9 wuie jrwu can uisuui a seii -ana
recover at a cost that will pay' for itself."
i Of more than 43 million acres within Nebraska bordsrs,
about 20 million are irrigable, according to Dr. Fischer.
But most of the water lies below the SaadhfUs--nonarshle
land even with today's most advanced farming techniques.
; Until the passage of v the Nebraska Groundwater
fclanagement Act in May 175, .Nebraska.. law . treated
groundwater (the legal term for underground water) as if
it were unlimited. V '."".'.. "- :..' -:
The act provides for the creation of Groundwater
Control Areas with the power to limit irrigation well
drilling or allocate water between competing users."
It is the first attempt in the state to effectively manage
groundwater development.
Chase County, a rural county in southwest Nebraska, is
a prime example of the discrepancy between irrigable land
mi water supply: there is more land to irrigate than there
is water .to irrigate it with.
Until 137 Chase County locked much like a desert. It
was all wheatland and pasture.
But beginning ia that year the local farmers began
tapping the reservoir of water beneath it. Ten years later
there are -about O center-pivot irrlgitiaa systems
irrigating about E2.C30 ems I corn.
Irrfgstiea development was aa eeoncrde boon for the
area. The termers profited, Il2trd Drilling, Inc., the
local well drI!2g essrpaay, prtlisd, and . equipment
-.retailers profited.
But ia 1970 the water table in Chase County t:gta to
drop as much as two feet a year ia some areas. Irrigators
.were pumping water out faster than the .underground
" reservoir was recharging.
"- A few irrigation wells begsa sucking air instead of water
ia August, the most critical time ia the cora growing
season. ..!(
In 1978 "the .Upper Republican" Natural Resources
'; District, comprised of Chase, Dundy and Perkins Counties
applied to the Department of W atsr Resources to become
Nebraska's first Groundwater . Conservation area. .
Sometime this summer the Department of Water
Resources, which must approve the Upper Republican '
NRD's applicatioa, is expected to announce its decision. ,
According to Micheal Jess, the department's deputy
director, the Department of Water 'Resources has
"tentatively decided that there is 'justiSe&tioa ia most of
the Upper Republican NRD to establish a Groundwater
Control Area.'
It will be the first time in the state's history that
groundwater has been regulated by any governmental
'.'unit.' ..- 'v..
There is - a possible flaw in the Groundwater
Management Act; No one knows if it is constitutional.
Dr,. Rkhard Harnsberger, UNL law professor, points
that while the Nebraska constitution dedicates all surface
water "to the people f the state for beneficial purpose,"
the constitution is silent on groundwater.
'The department (of Water Resources) assumes
someone will want to challenge the constitutionality" of
groundwater management, Jess said.
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I..'.'- V Tto "rr.''
I 4 .'9 I " iii pt
At kast one fimtr ffia Upptr RepubUcaa; NSD
has threate-nsd to tzs 'regsrdlsss cf what dsdif-i-a ths
Department cf Watar Rssurcts ttitkts, Jess tU.
"The gut iassjf," Dr. Kimsbs-rgsr es!J, "is that a
resource that heavily a&cts the put!!3 ht:?cst is being
regulated by a private kgal tystcrs," wisre tha usa cf
groundwater often depends on the citserrs c! civil ezlti
between property owners instead cf a aystssa c? laws.
.. The Groundwater tixra gemeat Act choId ckaag that.
' 'District 44 tl&U Senator Jask ISSs, who rtprtsssti aa
area encompassing ths Uf pir Rxpubeaa MID, sM hs
believes that most cf the pctple ia the area auppcrt
groundwater coaservatioa. .
. , Should the courts strike down the eurreat Im, f
said he wosld intmlues nsw kgislation.
, Lew Reese, a Dundy County Fanner-rancher, sirsaieJ
up the case of these who cp pose . groasiwatcr
management.
"I would like to make this statement," Vatzs eJJ t. k
public . public hsarisg ca the" 'Upper Rj?ul"aa
Groundwater Conservatioa' Area last FtbrsEry. "Ha
water below cur reach is ours."r.::;,; -.",
; UNL'; Prof. Fischer, a long-time - advocate cf
groundwater mantjffient, said that public ownership b
in the interest cf the farmers. - ; , .: :V
' , "Unless you give up the right to irrigate whissvcr you
want to, you can't be sure water will be there when you
need it," he said. '
In 23 years Chase County may est have much
groundwater left. '.:;;', .:;;:
Ia 1375 the U.S. "Geological Survey . produced a
computer uoizl cf changes ia groundwater levels ia Chase
County. The . model showed, that unltss expkltatlon cf
groundwater is limited, the, water table eoEld..drop aa
much as 150 feet by. the year 2MJ9 ia ssme areas. -
Chase County could also become the foeus cf another
legal battle, putting the rights of surface water users
against the rights cf groundwater irrigators.
Dr. Harnsberger said that' when Nebraska ' water . law -was
written the law-makers were cot aware cf the
connection between the two.
; That grouadwater and surface water are connected has ;
become abundentiy clear in the Frenchman Creek valley ia
Southern Chase County.
The inflow of water to Ender's Reservoir, a surface
water project a Frenchman Creek irrigating 21,0
acres, has decreased 13 per cent . since groundwater
development began 10 years ago.
The USGS computer'modf 1 predicts that inflow, into the
reservoir will be 10 per cent f today's ia 25 years. ; " ' -.
Already the water available to the irrigators depending
on Enders Reservoir has been reduced by half.
One possible solution, according to David Aikmj I INJ
water law specialist, is the "Erst in time, first m rbt
principle applied ia Colorado. t " -: : :
Groundwater irrigators would be required to assure the
surface water irrigators an adequate water supply under
that principle, he said.
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2 The Beaver