TITLE 42

IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE — WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION

CHAPTER 52

GROUND WATER DISTRICTS

42-5244A.  APPORTIONMENT OF MITIGATION PLAN OBLIGATIONS. (1) The board of directors may apportion among district members mitigation plan obligations requiring district members to limit the amount of water diverted under their respective ground water rights or perform other actions to mitigate material injury to senior priority water rights caused by ground water use within the district.

(2)  Each member shall bear a proportionate share of the district’s total mitigation obligation. The proportionate share shall be based on:

(a)  The ratio which the quantity of water the member is authorized to divert under the member’s ground water right(s) bears to the total quantity of water authorized for diversion under the ground water rights of all members of the district; or

(b)  The ratio which the number of acres the member is authorized to irrigate under the member’s ground water right bears to the total number of acres authorized for irrigation under the ground water rights of all members of the district.

(3)  The board shall adjust each member’s proportionate share of the district’s obligation based on priority date, unless the mitigation plan benefits all members equally. The board may additionally adjust a member’s proportionate share of the district’s obligation based on consumptive use under the member’s ground water rights or other attributes of the member’s ground water rights.

(4)  Any nonirrigator who is a member of a ground water district, or whose ground water rights are appurtenant to property located within a ground water district, may propose a separate mitigation plan to the director. If the director approves the nonirrigator’s mitigation plan, and the nonirrigator implements the mitigation plan, the nonirrigator shall be entitled to a credit for the contribution made by that nonirrigator’s mitigation plan toward the district’s mitigation obligation as determined by the director.

History:

[42-5244A, added 2019, ch. 261, sec. 2, p. 771.]