Cambridge, southwestern Nebraska | I think everyone should be metered. A lot of farmers just do not know how much water they apply.
Some areas probably don’t need allocations. They get enough rainfall most years to recharge. That York area is case in point. Their groundwater can drop 2-3 foot in one year but then recharge with a couple wetter years. They stay pretty steady.
When we went to 9” allocations I thought it would be really tough. But we average 7” of use a lot of years. We’re allowed 45” over 5 years. And can carry over 9” to the next 5 year period. There can be years when we are capped at 11” I believe. I would not mind seeing a cap every year so we don’t get these big swings in usage but I guess as long as we stay within our average it doesn’t really matter.
Our groundwater table is staying pretty steady even though we are likely using water a little faster than the recharge rate. |
Nebraska Irrigation NRD question
