Number of new Nebraska irrigation wells surges

LINCOLN – The number of new irrigation wells registered in drought-stricken Nebraska last year surged past 1,000 for the first time in seven years, according to preliminary state figures.

The Department of Natural Resources reported earlier this week that the 1,105 new wells were the most registered with the state since 2005 and more than 350 more than registered in 2011.

Why the jump?

“It’s a combination of drought and record commodity prices,” Dave Aiken said Thursday. The agriculture and water law specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln told the Lincoln Journal Star that if corn were $2 or $3 a bushel, “we wouldn’t see as many wells, despite the drought.”

U.S. Department of Agriculture records show corn sold for more than $7 a bushel for much of this past summer and recently has been hovering just under that price.

But more wells will need more water to pump up their pipes, further taxing groundwater supplies and cutting the flow from nearby rivers and streams.

Last summer the Platte River was all but dry at the Interstate 80 bridge between Lincoln and Omaha and near Ashland, where Lincoln has wells along the river.

The Loup and Elkhorn rivers that empty into the Platte normally provide enough water to keep the Platte flowing, but not so last year, as the extreme drought held sway over the entire state.

Worried about the city’s water supply, Lincoln officials imposed restrictions on watering.

The Norfolk-based Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District imposed a moratorium on new wells last year.

“I think this is a situation we’re watching very closely in our district,” said Stan Staab, general manager of the Lower Elkhorn district.

Some river basins in central and western Nebraska already have been designated as fully appropriated or over-appropriated under provisions of a state law aimed at balancing supply with demand.

The Natural Resources Department declared the Lower Platte Basin fully appropriated in 2009 but reversed course after complaints from irrigators and questions about the water studies used.

The Legislature subsequently limited how many more irrigated acres the Lower Elkhorn and six NRDs upstream from Lincoln could add each year in key areas.

A check of monitoring wells in the state’s 23 natural resources districts in the next few weeks should show how much groundwater levels have dropped and whether more conservation measures are needed.