45-568. Management plan for fifth management period; guidelines

A. For the fifth management period, 2020 to 2025, the director shall promulgate a management plan for each initial active management area not later than January 1, 2019 pursuant to the guidelines prescribed in section 45-567, subsections A and B, except that:

1. The director shall 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 1988 through 2017 and dividing the result by thirty.

2. The director may adjust the highest twenty-five per cent of the irrigation water duties established within an area of similar farming conditions pursuant to section 45-567 by reducing each water duty in an amount up to five per cent, except that in making the adjustment, no water duty may be reduced to an amount less than the greater of the following:

(a) The highest water duty within the lowest seventy-five per cent of the water duties computed within the area of similar farming conditions for the fifth management period.

(b) A water duty computed for the farm unit under this paragraph using an irrigation efficiency of eighty per cent.

3. 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 pursuant to 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:

(a) 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 in the next fifteen years without entering another active management area.

(b) 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.

B. Within thirty days after the management plan for the fifth management period is adopted, the director shall give written notice in the manner and to the persons prescribed in section 45-565, subsection B and shall give written notice of the non-per capita conservation program established pursuant to section 45-568.01 to all municipal providers. 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 section 45-565, subsection B and this subsection.

C. Except for a person 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 fifth management period not later than January 1, 2025 and shall remain in compliance until the legislature determines otherwise.