by Julie Liska

    Groundwater irrigators in the Upper Big Blue Natural Resources District (NRD) will need to report the location and amount of land irrigated.
     The action was prompted after spring well readings from across the NRD showed levels had dropped an average of .52 feet below the reporting trigger. The reporting trigger was established in 1978 and is designed to prevent water levels in the district from falling below that year's readings.
     Rod DeBuhr, water department manager with the NRD, said producers do not need to worry about certifying irrigated acres until an official letter of notification is sent out by the NRD. Producers can expect to receive those letters in late summer or early fall.
     The NRD is now determining who owns and operates wells with a pumping capacity of more than 50 gallons per minute. Records held by the county assessor will be used to establish producers' irrigated land base. That information will be compiled and used to generate a report for each landowner. After the results are combined, landowners will need to confirm the information provided.
     DeBuhr said that if the information is correct, landowners will simply sign and return the form and certification will be complete. However, if the recorded acres or farm locations are incorrect or don't agree with Farm Service Agency records, additional documentation may be needed.
     All information should be finalized with the NRD by March 2007. After that point, producers will need to complete an annual water use report. Those reports will not require the use of a meter, but a formula factoring in the hours pumped and flow rate.
     Meters will be required if the water level drops to the allocation trigger or 2.48 feet below the current level. A grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, generated from lottery funds, has been set up to provide a cost share to landowners that buy flow meters. Each landowner in the Upper Big Blue district is eligible for a 50-percent cost share, up to $500.
     The 2006 groundwater reading is the latest in a series of declines. This year's reading shows a drop of .87 feet from last spring. This compares with a district-wide decline of .79 feet in the spring of 2005.
     Over the last six springs, the total decline is 11.39 feet, the largest uninterrupted decline in 45 years of record keeping.