45-565

45-565. Management plan for second management
period; guidelines

A. For the second management period, 1990 to 2000, the director shall promulgate a
management plan for each initial active management area not later than January 1,
1988. In each plan the director shall:

1. Except as provided in section 45-411.01, subsection A, establish a new
irrigation water duty for each farm unit to be reached by the end of the second
management period and may establish one or more intermediate water duties to be reached
at specified intervals during the second management period. Except as provided in
subsection G of this section, the irrigation water duty and any intermediate water duties
shall be calculated as the quantity of water reasonably required to irrigate the crops
historically grown in the farm unit and shall assume the maximum conservation consistent
with prudent long-term farm management practices within areas of similar farming
conditions, considering the time required to amortize conservation investments and
financing costs.

2. Establish additional conservation requirements for all non-irrigation uses of
groundwater to be achieved by the end of the second management period and may establish
intermediate conservation requirements to be achieved at specified intervals during the
second management period. For municipal uses, except as provided in section 45-565.01
and paragraphs 3 and 4 of this subsection, the program shall require additional
reasonable reductions in per capita use to those required in the first management period
and use of such other conservation measures as may be appropriate for individual
users. For industrial uses including industrial uses within the exterior boundaries of
the service area of a city, town, private water company or irrigation district, the
program shall require the use of or establish conservation requirements based on the use
of the latest commercially available conservation technology consistent with reasonable
economic return.

3. Establish conservation or rate of use requirements for deliveries of untreated
water by large untreated water providers based on the use of the latest commercially
available conservation technology consistent with reasonable economic return.

4. Establish reasonable conservation requirements for small municipal providers.

5. Except as provided in section 45-411.01, subsection B, establish additional
economically reasonable conservation requirements for the distribution of groundwater by
cities, towns, private water companies and irrigation districts within their service
areas.

6. Include a program for augmentation of the water supply of the active management
area including incentives for artificial groundwater recharge.

7. In cooperation with the department of environmental quality, include an
assessment of groundwater quality in the active management area and any proposed program
for groundwater quality protection. Any such program shall be submitted to the
legislature for any necessary enabling legislation or coordination with existing programs
of the department of environmental quality.

B. Within thirty days after the management plan for the second management period is
adopted, the director shall give written notice of:

1. The irrigation water duties and conservation requirements in the manner and to
the persons prescribed in section 45-564, subsection B, except that the director shall
give written notice of any municipal conservation requirement which is substantially
identical to an industrial conservation requirement only to the individual users to which
the municipal conservation requirement applies, and which have been identified as such by
the municipal provider on a form provided by the department and received by the director
no later than ninety days before the adoption of the management plan. If the municipal
conservation requirement for the use of appropriate conservation measures by individual
users is not substantially identical to an industrial conservation requirement, or if the
director has not been notified of an individual user by a municipal provider, the
director shall give written notice of a municipal conservation requirement to either the
individual user or a municipal provider that directly serves the individual user.

2. The conservation requirements for small municipal providers to each small
municipal provider in the active management area.

C. Two years before the compliance date specified in the management plan for any
irrigation water duty, intermediate water duty, conservation requirement or intermediate
conservation requirement, the director shall give additional written notice by first
class mail to the last known addresses of the persons prescribed in subsection B of this
section, except as provided in subsection D of this section.

D. If the director establishes in the management plan an intermediate municipal
conservation requirement that subjects an individual user to a water allotment or
application rate identical to the annual water allotment or application rate computed for
the individual user under a conservation requirement for the use of appropriate
conservation measures adopted in the management plan for the first management period, the
compliance date for the intermediate conservation requirement may be two years or less
from the date of adoption of the management plan for the second management period and no
additional written notice to the individual user is required.

E. Except for a person who obtains a variance under section 45-574 or who is exempt
from irrigation water duties under section 45-563.02, subsection A, all persons notified
pursuant to subsection B of this section shall comply with the applicable irrigation
water duty or conservation requirements for the second management period not later than
January 1, 2000 and shall remain in compliance until the compliance date for any
applicable irrigation water duty or conservation requirements established in the
management plan for the third management period. If intermediate water duties or
intermediate conservation requirements have been established, a person to whom those
water duties or conservation requirements apply shall comply with the intermediate water
duties or conservation requirements not later than the compliance date specified in the
management plan, unless the person obtains a variance pursuant to section 45-574 or is
exempt from intermediate water duties pursuant to section 45-563.02, subsection A. A
person who obtains a variance under section 45-574 shall comply with the applicable
irrigation water duty or conservation requirements by the date specified in the variance
and shall remain in compliance until the subsequent compliance date for any applicable
irrigation water duty or conservation requirements established in the management plan for
the second management period or, if that management plan does not establish any
applicable subsequent compliance date, until the applicable compliance date established
in the management plan for the third management period.

F. In addition to the provisions of the management plan for the second management
period prescribed by subsection A of this section, the director shall:

1. Include a program for conservation assistance to water users within the active
management area.

2. Establish the historic annual net natural recharge for any groundwater
replenishment district in the active management area, computed by determining the net
natural recharge, as defined by section 48-4401, for the groundwater basin beneath the
district during calendar years 1961 through 1990 and dividing the result by thirty.

G. A person who is entitled to use groundwater pursuant to an irrigation
grandfathered right may apply to the director at any time during the management period
for an exemption from the irrigation water duties established under subsection A,
paragraph 1 of this section. The director shall grant the exemption if the person
demonstrates to the director's satisfaction that granting the exemption is consistent
with achieving the management goal of the active management area and that one of the
following applies:

1. Withdrawal of groundwater pursuant to the irrigation grandfathered right during
the management period will intercept groundwater that would otherwise flow out of and be
lost to the active management area within the next fifteen years without entering another
active management area.

2. Withdrawal of groundwater pursuant to the irrigation grandfathered right during
the management period will prevent encroachment of a rising depth to groundwater level
that will cause waterlogging problems within the next fifteen years.