Senator Calls for Powerful Water Panel
By David Hendee, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Jan. 18–LINCOLN — A freshman state senator from southwest Nebraska wants to shake up the state’s water regulatory system and accelerate a solution to the Republican River Basin water emergency.
State Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial introduced a bill Wednesday to create a powerful Basin Administration Committee to manage water in the troubled Republican basin.
“We’ve got to get everyone on the same page and working together,” Christensen said. “If everyone has to sit together, they’ll work together.”
Christensen said there is a desperate need for a fair way to determine the responsibility shared by irrigators, regulators and others in resolving Nebraska’s most pressing interstate water crisis.
Legislative Bill 701 would create a mechanism permitting Nebraska water policy to keep the state in compliance under agreements with Kansas and Colorado on how much Republican River water each state is allocated, Christensen said.
Nebraska has not been providing Kansas with sufficient water as required by a 1943 compact. Kansas sued Nebraska over the issue in 1998 and could return to the U.S. Supreme Court over Nebraska’s lack of full compliance.
Under Christensen’s bill, the Republican basin would be managed by a new authority composed of local natural resources districts, surface irrigation districts, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources and communities.
This Basin Administration Committee would have authority to import water into the Republican from other basins, manage river vegetation, retire irrigated acres, pay irrigators to use less water, buy surface-water rights, hold water permits and develop and manage a water bank.
Ann Bleed, director of the Nebraska Natural Resources Department, is skeptical about how the new committee’s proposed authority would mesh with statutory powers given the state and local agencies.
“I have questions on how that would work,” Bleed said.
Bleed’s department manages surface water in the basin and has worked closely with natural resources districts in developing a plan to jointly manage water in streams and underground. NRDs manage underground water.
The bill also calls for eventually shifting responsibility for complying with the Kansas agreement from the state to NRDs.
Christensen said not all farmers support the idea.
“But if those who are responsible (for pumping that depletes the river) don’t have liability, what incentive do they have to change?” he said. “This isn’t a perfect bill. But it allows us some money and tools to go forward.”
Christensen’s bill joins several others addressing water issues.
LB 458, introduced Tuesday by State Sen. Tom Carlson of Holdrege, calls for water management plans to require the removal from river banks of non-native vegetation that has a negative effect on stream flows.
State Sen. Gail Kopplin of Gretna has withdrawn LB 224, which called for a statewide moratorium on new irrigation wells.
Christensen’s bill addresses many of the issues raised in recent years by WaterClaim, an Imperial-based group of irrigators and businesses that support irrigation. Christensen is a member of WaterClaim.
“The goal is to save the Republican River Basin,” said Steve Smith of Imperial, founder and director of WaterClaim.
—–
Copyright (c) 2007, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.