By Russ Pankonin
    The Imperial Republican
     The focus on water issues in the Republican River Basin continues to intensify as the state seeks to comply with a settlement reached with Kansas in 2002.
     Senator Mark Christensen of Imperial, who represents the 44th District, has introduced a major water bill, LB 701, that could help Nebraska with ways to meet compliance.
     During his weekly teleconference Tuesday, Christensen urged people to show their support for the bill by testifying in favor of it Feb. 28. He said the bill will be heard by the Natural Resources Committee at 1:30 p.m. CT Wednesday, Feb. 28 .
     Christensen said that hearing is the only one scheduled for the committee that day, anticipating it may take most of the afternoon for testimony.
     He's urging business people, school board members and administrators, city and county officials and farmers to come testify in favor of the bill.
     He said it's imperative for people in the basin to come show support for the bill, which among other things would recognize augmentation, or the transfer of water, as a tool in reaching compliance.
     He said the current proposals from the state would reduce allocations by 15 percent on upland wells and 50 percent or more on quick-response wells.
     However, that action alone will still not put the state in compliance with Kansas. Plus, he said, it would devastate the economy of the basin, not to mention lower land values.
     Lower land valuations mean less tax receipts for running schools, counties, cities and other tax-supported entities, such as hospitals, he noted.
     The Chase County Community Hospital does not receive tax dollars but the hospital in Dundy County does.
     Christensen praised school officials in the basin for getting behind the bill, noting they realize the impact it will have on education.
     Without the bill in place, Christensen fears that Kansas could file suit and a federal judge could shut down irrigation in the basin until the state is in compliance.
     Current estimates indicated irrigation would have to be shut down for five to seven years for the state to come into compliance.
     He said Kansas is wanting basin irrigators to make additional cuts this year while the state proposal calls for the reductions to start in the 2008 crop year.
    Kansas wants to know how
    the state plans to comply
     Kansas' top water official wants to know how the state plans to comply to the compact settlement.
     In a Jan. 24 letter to Ann Bleed, director of Nebraska's Department of Natural Resources, Chief Engineer David Pope, said Kansas is "most interested" in hearing how Nebraska plans to come into compliance in 2007.
     Pope said he's aware of efforts to possibly use intra- or inter-basin water transfers to help meet compliance. He noted that members of the three-state compact must approve any such type of action.
     He said it appears that no reduction in allocations are being considered in 2007, which will further delay Nebraska's compliance efforts.
     He also questioned the benefits that would result from managing tree growth and invasive vegetation along streams in the basin.
     Christensen said one study indicates that Nebraska could recover more than 10,000 acre-feet of stream flow if 10 percent of all the trees along the streams were removed. The savings would be doubled by a 20 percent reduction in trees and invasive vegetation.
    Basin NRDs meet with Bleed
     Upper Republican Manager Jasper Fanning said managers and board members of basin NRDs met with Bleed and her staff last week in Lincoln to further discuss proposals.
     Fanning said there was a clear agreement by all of the basin NRDs that the state needs to look at other methods for compliance beyond just allocation reductions.
     Fanning said the NRDs are frustrated the state has not taken the lead in assessing alternatives to further regulation. He said Bleed indicated they haven't ruled other options out.
     Fanning noted it was the state that signed the compact settlement and basin managers feel the state should be taking the lead on how to comply rather than forcing it back on the NRDs.
    Release of letter causes furor
     The letter from Pope of Kansas appeared on the WaterClaim web site this week. WaterClaim is a water advocacy organization based in Imperial.
     Founder Steve Smith said he obtained the letter from a basin NRD board member who attended the Lincoln meeting.
     Smith said Tuesday he's taken a great deal of heat from all sides on making the letter public.
     He said he believes the letter needed to be shared with the public.
     "It's my belief that all information about water policy should be open to the public and available for review," he said. When information is hidden or kept from the public, "There is a great opportunity for abuse," he said.
     While Fanning agreed the letter and new water model runs released by DNR belong in the public domain, he feared the message in the letter could have an adverse effect.
     In the letter, Pope notes basin NRDs don't appear to be making any plans for allocation changes for the upcoming 2007 crop season.
     Fanning said he fears that metro senators may use such a statement against the efforts of NRDs by seeking to limit local control over water.
     While the letter makes it appear the NRDs aren't doing anything, farmers in the basin already reduced allocations for a three-year period when integrated management plans were adopted by the NRDs prior to the 2005 crop year.
     In addition, irrigators used less than their allocation in 2006.
     When Gov. Dave Heineman's office was asked to comment on the message in Pope's letter, Spokesman Aaron Sanderford said the governor was not going to play the blame game. There's already enough blame to go around, he said.
     The key, Sanderford said, is that the focus remains on what can be done in the future to address compliance issues. The governor is more interested in the future than dwelling on what's happened in the past, he said.