ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, August 19, 2005 7:00 pm
A large crack formed Friday in water-policy consensus in Nebraska. About as quickly as the Department of Natural Resources said "10-50," that controversial formula for balancing surface and groundwater use in the state was labeled "absurd" by a spokesman for the state's natural resources districts.
Dean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts said all 23 NRDs oppose a new state standard that blocks further irrigation development near rivers or streams where existing wells were judged to be depleting surface flows by 10 percent in 50 years of pumping.
The NRDs view that choice as a major blow to future groundwater irrigation. "I don't think, by any means, that this is over," Edson said.
Natural Resources Director Roger Patterson made his move on his last day in office Friday before moving on to start his own water consulting business in Omaha.
He set the stage for adding to well-drilling moratoriums and other irrigation restrictions already in place in central and western Nebraska.
In a larger context, the 11th-hour act could end a relatively peaceful period in which the Nebraska Legislature and a 49-member Governors Water Policy Task Force which includes substantial NRD representation packaged sweeping changes to Nebraska water law into LB962 last year.
Lawmakers acted in response to a prolonged drought and heavy groundwater pumping that has depleted rivers and streams and their flows into Lake McConaughy and other reservoirs.
The task force, the Legislature and Patterson's department were also on their way to heading off court battles between groundwater irrigators and an array of competing interests that include surface water irrigators, public power districts and municipalities.
The agreed-upon means toward that end gave Patterson the authority to declare portions of river basins in the state as either fully or over-appropriated and to strike a sustainable balance between water supply and demand.
But the devil, some might say, is in the 10-50 details.
Patterson could have dumped those details on Deputy Director Ann Bleed, who becomes acting director today. He did not, though Bleed was the one left to answer questions later.
"That's typical of Roger," Bleed said. "He takes responsibility for what he does."
Bleed, however, was not backing away from the heat Friday either.
"To be honest with you, I would have made the same decision," she said. "We looked at this very carefully as a department."
Edson begs to differ.
He said Patterson set the bar too high in designating areas of river basins that are likely to be declared fully appropriated and placed off limits to new irrigation development after Jan. 1.
In rejecting NRD preferences for a 28-40 standard 28 percent depletion over 40 years those restricted areas could become much bigger.
"It's probably twice as big an area," Edson said. "It's really significant."
Also, he said, NRDs are left in a situation where groundwater pumping that they can't control outside their boundaries depletes surface flows inside them.
Under those circumstances, "There's been quite a bit of discussion of introducing legislation to go back to something more reasonable and politically acceptable."
Dave Aiken, water-law specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said Friday's action could indeed be the start of a much stormier period in water policy in the state.
"I think that's very possible," Aiken said. "One of the strong qualities that Roger had is that he could bring people to agreement even on things that there was probably a small likelihood that they could agree on."
Patterson, Aiken said, "pushed the envelope on Nebraska water policy very substantially."
Aiken's view of the 28-40 alternative advanced by NRDs? "Basically, pump the hell out of it," he replied.
Aiken also said, "A lot of people would like to go back to the good old days when our water policy was nothing to brag about."
However, said Aiken, "There's pretty widespread agreement in the larger Nebraska political community that the reforms that Roger Patterson was able to win were important and valuable. And any retreat from those would be a retreat from sound water policy."
Reach Art Hovey at 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.
At a glance
* What happened?
Natural Resources Director Roger Patterson approved a controversial standard for restricting irrigation development on his last day in office Friday.
* What it means?
Patterson's 10-50 choice would block new irrigation development inside a line where 50 years of pumping from wells would deplete adjoining rivers and streams by 10 percent.
* What's next?
Natural Resources will use the 10-50 standard to determine which additional areas of river basins to put in restricted status by Jan. 1. About a dozen areas in central and western Nebraska are already under restriction.