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Published Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 05:26 AM

(HOLDREGE, Neb.) -- The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District's board of directors received an inquiry from the Tri-Basin Natural Resources District at Monday's monthly meeting regarding Central's interest in leasing surface water and use of Central right-of-way for the establishment of a well field and pumping stations.

Tri-Basin's requests are part of efforts to meet obligations of the state's integrated management plan legislation.

Tri-Basin NRD, headquartered in Holdrege, is nearing completion of an integrated management plan for groundwater and surface water resources within its area. LB962, passed by the Nebraska Legislature in 2004, requires the state's NRDs to prepare integrated management plans to resolve and/or prevent conflicts between uses of surface water and groundwater, particularly in river basins where the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has designated the water supply as "fully appropriated" or "over appropriated."

The proposed site of the well field is in Kearney County along property owned by Central and adjacent to the KAAPA ethanol plant's wastewater pipeline. Tri-Basin Manager John Thorburn said a well field with four 400-gpm wells could be used to pump groundwater back to the river through the pipeline if terms of a lease can be negotiated with the ethanol plant. As currently envisioned, he said, the NRD would alternately operate three of the four wells "fairly continuously" throughout the year. He added that studies have indicated that the aquifer in the proposed area is capable of sustaining the planned level of pumping without significant declines in the water table.

Thorburn said the KAAPA pipeline could also be used under certain conditions to carry water from Central's canal back to the river if Central is willing to lease water from its system.

Thorburn said the proposals are among several options for offsetting new depletions to the water supply being considered by the NRD. In addition to stream-flow augmentation through groundwater pumping and/or conveyance of surface water back to the Platte River, options include the purchase and retirement of irrigation rights from landowners. In Tri-Basin's opinion, he said, offsets gained by augmenting stream flows is preferable to retiring irrigated acres, which carries with it impacts to the irrigated land base and the area's tax base.

The NRD's goal is to provide 1,800 acre-feet per year from the area of its District designated as over appropriated (west of U.S. Highway 183) and 1,700 acre-feet from the area east of Hwy. 183, which is designated as fully appropriated.

In addressing Tri-Basin's efforts to have offset measures in place this year, Central General Manager Don Kraus suggested that an option that could potentially help with the offsets issue is to convince the state to recognize the value of incidental recharge as it relates to surface water appropriations and groundwater supplies. Board member Robert Garrett of Minden suggested that a cooperative effort by both Central and Tri-Basin may be more effective in making the case.

Thorburn responded that having allies in the discussion could be helpful, but Central and Tri-Basin need to have further discussions to ensure that both entities "are on the same page" concerning incidental recharge.

"I agree that it is important for our two districts to work as closely together as possible to benefit our common constituents," Thorburn said, "and I think that we can be much more effective and efficient in storing, protecting and utilizing the water resources we have in this area."

Thorburn said the NRD and DNR have agreed on the language in an integrated management plan for the Platte River portion of the Tri-Basin NRD, while plans for the Little Blue and Republican basins are still under development. Tri-Basin will hold a public hearing on June 18 to take comments on the Platte River portion of the plan.

Central General Manager Don Kraus said Central does not currently have a program for leasing water, nor could he say without further discussions whether Central would be interested in establishing such a program.

"It's important that we talk further with the NRD about the proposals and some of the issues our board members have raised today to see if there are ways that Central might be helpful to Tri-Basin as it develops its integrated management plan," Kraus said.