NRD rules hearing yields no testimony; board to vote April 4

    Except for a question on accepting written testimony, there was no public comment at Tuesday’s Upper Republican NRD hearing on the district’s rules for the next five years.
    Eleven people were present for the hearing which opened the board’s regular monthly meeting.
    Board chairman Terry Martin asked if there was public input.
    That yielded just a question from Imperial farmer Wayne Haarberg, who asked if written testimony would be accepted.
    The board agreed to do that, but only for 24 hours after the meeting until the close of business Wednesday at 4 p.m.
    That means a delay on a board vote on the proposed rules until the board’s April 4 meeting.
    Asst. NRD Manager Nate Jenkins said he realizes the month delay may put some farmers in angst over the later timeline as they start to get into their fields.
    However, with little comment received as of Tuesday, Jenkins didn’t anticipate major changes from the proposals if written testimony comes in.
    The water allocation for 2023-27 is proposed at 62.5” over the five years, dropping a total of 2.5”, or one-half inch per year on average.
    Other major rule changes include:
    • Irrigators can use a total of 7.5” of carryforward during the allocation period without incurring a “2-for-1” penalty whereby 2” of carryforward are deducted for every 1” of carryforward used above 7.5.”
    • Expanding the boundary in which wells can be pooled to 9 miles; the current boundary is 6 miles.
    • Not averaging the beginning allocations and carryforward balances across all tracts within a pool when a pooling application is approved or terminated, unless requested by owners of tracts in a pool.
    • If the allocations within a pool are not requested to be averaged, a tract brought into a pool may have more than 39” of carryforward.
    • Adding a tract to a pool must be requested by July 31 of the second year of the allocation period (2024).
    • Certified-acre reductions and allocation restrictions will not apply when new irrigation uses that require offsets occur within a floating township, so long as the new use causes improvement in irrigation efficiency or the new land to be irrigated has better soil.
    • When calculating certified acre/allocation reductions of new uses due to historic use on land providing the offset, historic use from the period 2013-2022 will be used.
    • There will be a $150 fee to apply for a standard variance; the fee for a variance that includes required offset of uses outside a floating township will be $500.
    During Tuesday’s hearing, NRD Manager Jaspar Fanning addressed some wording cleanup areas that will be changed, including a clearer definition of livestock wells and replacement wells to match definitions in state statute.
    Board chairman Martin said one irrigator approached him this week, asking that if the water use is being reduced, will the occupation tax also be dropped.
    Martin said, oftentimes, the board uses that money for other programs that benefit irrigators.
    There are programs that require a match and that occupation tax money is used for the local match, he said.
    “So, if we can collect enough money to get them to participate we get $2 of benefits for $1 of tax money,” he said.
    “This board is very aware of how much occupation tax is taking out of your pockets and we feel a responsibility to that,” Martin said.
    He said that’s the only comment he had before the hearing. No other board members reported receiving comments.