ALMA — Wary of promising to cut groundwater consumption in an uncertain future, the Lower Republican Natural Resources District board won’t sign a letter that may be necessary to secure money for water purchases.

District manager Mike Clements said the letter stems from a proposal by state Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek. Under the proposal, $2 million to $5 million would be set aside by the state to buy surface water from the Bostwick Irrigation District. The water would go to Kansas to help Nebraska meet its obligations under a water compact with Kansas, Colorado and the federal government.

Gov. Dave Heineman wants Republican basin NRDs to commit their willingness to go beyond current measures to ensure compliance with a lawsuit settlement. Kansas had sued in 1998, alleging that Nebraska was using more than its share of the Republican River water.

“The governor said if the basin wants him to include money for Bostwick in his budget this year, the NRDs have to agree to sign the agreement,” Clements said.

The Lower Republican NRD directors voted unanimously Thursday against letting chairman Nelson Trambly sign the document.

A meeting between Heineman and the basin NRD representatives is scheduled for Tuesday in Lincoln, Clements said.

Clements said there are two sentences in Heineman’s letter that the district cannot support.

“The first states that we, as a board, realize that in 2008-2010 our integrated management rules may need to be revised depending on hydrologic conditions, to limit water use in extreme drought conditions,” he said. The district’s plan will be reviewed in two years anyway, he said, and the state already has signed off on the plan.

No one can predict the weather, he said, and the 2002 settlement with Kansas provides that water shortages from a drought will be shared equally by the three states.

Committing to uncertain future groundwater consumption reductions won’t fly with his board, Clements said.

The second sentence the district objects to says that if incentive programs and other actions fail to ensure compact compliance, Republican basin NRDs will work with Nebraska to develop rules and regulations that equitably and effectively reduce water consumption by all water users.

“How do we know incentive programs won’t work when we have not seen any except the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, and that’s not had a chance to work yet,” Clements said.

When the Lower Republican NRD approved groundwater rules and its plan earlier in 2005, directors thought they had complied with settlement requirements.

But in the fall, the district learned that a computer-generated hydrology model concluded that Nebraska had far exceeded its share.

And, according to the model, Nebraska’s Republican basin irrigators were over their limit.

Kansas is demanding that Nebraska stop the overuse and may seek monetary damages.