By Russ Pankonin, The Imperial Republican Co-Publisher
    For months, members of the Upper Republican Natural Resource District's negotiating committee has been meeting with Nebraska Department of Natural Resources to hammertout an integrated management plan that both the state and the farmers in the URNRD can live with.
     One of the issues in contention was whether the allocations for the district had to be part of the IMP, rather than just part of the rules and regulations of the district.
      The rub came with the IMP because both DNR and the NRD had to both agree on the IMP. If not, then the issue went before an untested authority, the Interrelated Water Board, created several years ago as part of major water legislation in LB 962.
      The governor and DNR have made it no secret that they want to reduce allocations in the basin. However, even if all of the irrigation wells were to be shut off, it would do little in the short term to put water back in the streams.
      It appears that DNR has backed off on its insistence that the allocations be part of the IMP.
      That means that the control of the allocations remains in the local hands of the NRDs in the basin.
      That also creates a responsibility on the NRD and each irrigator to make the best use of water as well as doing our share to keep the NRD within its proportion of allowed depletions.
     To that effort, the NRD board will offer a set of rules this week that asks for a reduction in irrigated acres by each irrigator but maintains the current allocation of 13.5 inches. Most importantly, the decision on whether to do this will be made at the local level, not by someone at the state.
     However, we must continue to be vigilant in our efforts to reduce water use because if we don't, DNR has already said they will come in and make sure we do. If that happens, kiss local control goodbye.
     Even as these issues are addressed within our own borders, the plot thickens as Kansas reiterated this week their intention to go after Nebraska for non-compliance in previous years.
     Across our western border, Colorado is proposing to shut down wells within three miles of the Republican River to help meet its compliance requirements.
     We are fortunate to have retained local control over water decisions and the burden is on us to make sure we do it right. Otherwise, local control will become a thing of the past. And if that happens, who knows what the future will hold for the Republican Basin.