Board members of the Upper Republican NRD approved the district’s water rules for the next five years.

The action came at Tuesday’s regular board meeting on an 11-0 vote.

The adopted rules will be in effect in the upcoming irrigation season and through 2027.

For the first time since 2008, irrigators will have less water to use than the previous allocation period.

The district’s five-year allocation for 2023-27 will be 62.5”, dropping from the previous 65”, or a half inch per year.

The public hearing on the rules drew no testimony on March 4 or at Tuesday’s meeting. One letter was submitted by the March 5 deadline by Haarberg Farms—Dirk, Charlie and Sam Haarberg.

In their letter, the Haarbergs stated they were strongly against the allocation reduction, feeling it should be left at 65” or 13” per year.

Believing it to be a “reactionary move” after several dry years, they wrote “there has been no concrete evidence shared to support the decision” for a reduced allocation.

Their letter continues, saying they feel the reduction is a foreshadowing of further reductions to come.

“That leads us to assume that stair stepping down the allocation is leading to an end goal” of further reductions in the future.

“If there is such an end goal in place, users within our district have a right to know now what that end goal is,” the Haarbergs wrote.

The letter also expressed what they deem as “overly restrictive rules regarding the use of carryforward” adding “saving in the past was supposed to help us in the present, and yet we were penalized for using it.”

The Haarbergs expressed support for the expanded boundaries within which wells can be pooled and for allowing tracts to enter the pool with higher amounts of carryforward.

“We feel strongly that carryforward earned should not be lost just to create or add acres to a pool for the protection and usage that a farm may need,” they wrote.

All of the rules approved in Tuesday’s vote can be found on the NRD website www.urnrd.org under the “resources” tab.

https://www.imperialrepublican.com/news-local/new-five-year-nrd-rules-go-effect-next-month