Lower Loup NRD Board Okays 2,367 New Irrigated Acres

Applications for a total of 2,367.34 new irrigated acres in the North Loup River, Middle Loup and Beaver Creek Sub-Basins have been approved by the Lower Loup Natural Resources District Board of Directors. 

NRD General Manager Russell Callan said that there were 50 applications for new irrigation, 19 in the North Loup River Basin, 16 in the Middle Loup River Basin and 15 in the Beaver Creek Basin.  He said that the total irrigated acres requested in the combined basins was 3,092.61 acres.  Callan said the average application for the new irrigation development requested 61.67 acres and the average application ranking was 276.26 points.  Special consideration was given to applications for fields in an area of rising groundwater in southern Loup, northeastern Custer, and Valley Counties.   

Map of the Lower Loup NRD shows the number of applications and the total acres approved for each county.

At their meeting October 24th, the Lower Loup NRD Board of Directors unanimously approved a recommendation from the LLNRD Water Resources Committee to approve applications for new irrigated acres.  Letters of approval or denial have been mailed out to all applicants.

LLNRD Assistant General Manager Tylr Naprstek said applications for new irrigation were ranked using criteria approved by the NRD Board when irrigated acres had been previously granted.  The criteria included the stream depletion factors, the status of groundwater and surface water, the type of acre being developed, the number of acres being developed, and the soil classification.