By Russ Pankonin
    The Imperial Republican
     Senator Mark Christensen's water bill to address compliance issues in the Republican River basin will face its first big test in Lincoln next Wednesday.
     Members of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on LB 701 to take testimony on the bill.
     The new senator from Imperial focused his election campaign on water issues in the basin. LB 701 was drafted in response to those issues.
     In 2002, Nebraska settled a lawsuit with Kansas over the amount of water delivered from the Republican Basin. Since the settlement, Nebraska has failed to comply with the settlement, based on a 1943 water compact.
     Presently, Nebraska finds itself nearly 200,000 acre-feet of water out of compliance with the settlement.
     Christensen's bill would create a new basin administration committee (BAC) comprised of members from natural resource districts, surface water irrigation districts and municipalities in the basin.
     Groundwater in the basin is managed by four NRDs-the Upper, Middle, Lower and Tri Basin.
     The bill enables the BAC to conduct a variety of activities designed to reduce consumptive water use in the basin. Emphasis will be on supplementing and augmenting basin water supplies, such as transfers and vegetation management.
     The BAC would also assign water allowances to each regulatory agency in the basin, such as the NRDs and the surface water districts. It would then be up to each entity to determine how to allocate that allowance.
     Some of the other activities include implementing acreage retirement programs, purchasing surface water on an annual or permanent basis and other incentives to manage water supply.
     Funding, which would be managed by the BAC, would come from an initial $10 million appropriation from the Legislature. The bill would also allow for a local levy up to 10 cents per $100 of valuation.
     The state would also have to match local levy funds on a four-to-one basis.
    BAC source of concern for NRDs
     As the hearing nears, NRD representatives have shown concern over the creation of the BAC.
     Christensen said the BAC is an important component because colleagues have indicated they won't fund NRDs directly.
     URNRD Manager Jasper Fanning said the BAC creates another layer of government that will only slow the process.
     He said some senators have told him they will fund the activities through the NRDs if they present a unified plan.
     Fanning will testify for the bill next week but he said his focus will be on keeping the funding options available at all costs.
     Without funding for these activities, any plan is doomed, he said.
     Fanning said NRDs also fear a loss of local control if the BAC is put in place.
     Gov. Dave Heineman said Tuesday that he's aware of Christensen's bill but took no position on it.
     He said the water issues the state faces in the Republican and Platte River basins were the reason he's proposed a water resources cash fund.
     Over a 12-year period, he said the fund will generate $128 million to address water issues. It will be funded by $2.7 million annually from the Legislature, federal funds and a 1/2-cent corn checkoff beginning in 2013.
     Christensen, along with managers and representatives of the four Republican Basin NRDs, met with the governor this week to discuss water issues.
    Compliance progress
     Fanning said recent meetings with water modelers have indicated the state may get an annual 8,600 AF credit for water built up in an underground mound in the Tri-Basin.
     He also said surface water irrigators in the Frenchman-Cambridge Irrigation District have indicated an interest in selling 15-17,000 AF of water.
     Fanning said these efforts will all help the state reach compliance with the Kansas settlement.
    Bus available to attend hearing
     If at least 20 people sign up, Chase County Schools will provide a bus to Lincoln for people interested in attending next Wednesday's hearing on LB 701.
     Cost to ride the bus will be $10. People wishing to ride can make reservations no later than noon, Tuesday, Feb. 27, by calling The Imperial Republican at 882-4453, Roger Harmon at 883-8090, the school at 308-882-4304, or Sen. Christensen's office at 402-471-2805.
     School Board President Sheila Stromberger said the school board has not taken any official stand on LB 701.
     She said they are making the bus available to district patrons as they have for other activities in the past.