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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.