Cambridge, southwestern Nebraska | My first thought was "can a goverment entity buy land"? Guess they can if it is in the best interest of the public. They needed to retire acres in the Republican river basin and this was one way to do it one giant sweep. And those acres were fairly sandy and used a lot of water.
The NRDs are in a desperate position with all the pumping that went on this year due to the drought and they have to achieve a two year average. Desperate situations require desperate measures.
My main problem with this is the fact they are going to pump water from this ground to enhance steamflow which has been diminished from overuse of groundwater pumping. Kind of going in a vicious circle...a bit like the dog chasing its tail. It could be a short term fix but long term the basin, particularly in the upper reaches where declines in groundwater levels are the greatest, will have to reduce consumption. |
Nebraska NRD land purchase
