Irrigated Acre Certification
Later this year, the Lower Platte North NRD plans to begin the process of certifying all irrigated acres in the district.
The certification process will verify the number of acres being irrigated by wells and/or surface water throughout the NRD and correct any errors in existing records. The main purpose of the acre certification is to protect future water use for existing irrigators.
Each year, the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) evaluates all river basins in the state to determine if they are “fully appropriated.” When a basin is declared fully-appropriated, NRDs are required to impose a stay on new water wells and expansions of water use. In such an event, irrigators with certified acres know that their existing water use is protected.
While the Lower Platte basin has not yet been declared fully-appropriated, the Lower Plate North NRD believes there’s a good chance that could change sometime within the next five years.
“If our basin is declared fully-appropriated by the state, certification will ensure that producers who have made the investment in their irrigation systems can continue to irrigate their existing acres,” said NRD General Manager John Miyoshi. “It’s the best way to protect our irrigators and their operations.”
The certification will also be important for the NRD’s moratorium areas in the Uplands area of Butler and Saunders counties, where expansion of irrigated acres is restricted and requires a variance from the district. Certified acres will be used as the baseline when evaluating proposed changes in water use in the moratorium areas.
The NRD hopes to begin certifying acres this fall in Saunders County, followed by Butler, Dodge, Colfax, Platte, Madison, and Boone. (The certification will be restricted to the portions of those counties that fall within Lower Platte North NRD boundaries.) The process is expected to take at least two years to complete.
The intent is to make certification as simple and painless as possible for landowners. Initially, landowners don’t need to do anything; they will receive a mailing from the NRD when the district is certifying their area. The mailing will contain current records for their irrigated acres and the well or surface water right(s) used to irrigate those acres. Farm Service Agency (FSA) data will be used as the baseline for those records.
If the records are correct, all landowners will need to do is sign and return the form to the NRD. If there are mistakes in the records (such as unregistered or improperly registered wells or discrepancies in irrigated acres between records from FSA, the Department of Natural Resources and county assessors), the NRD will work with the landowner to correct the mistakes.
Landowners will need to be current on their NRD certification (for nitrogen application/water conservation) to have their acres certified. Failure to certify acres could potentially lead to a cease and desist order for irrigation.
For more information on the certification program, please contact the NRD at (402) 443-4675 or email us at lpnnrd@lpnnrd.org.