RRWCD continues partnership with NRCS for water conservation

    The Republican River Water Conservation District acting through its Water Activity Enterprise will again partner with Natural Resource Conservation Service to encourage water conservation and provide incentives to producers that voluntarily implement water conservation measures.
    Since the Ogallala Aquifer Initiative sunset with the end of the 2014 Farm Bill, the RRWCD will partner with NRCS through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to help producers transition from irrigated to dryland agriculture or grassland. The RRWCD funding will augment NRCS funding to producers that voluntarily agree to permanently retire irrigation wells and convert the irrigated cropland to dryland farming or grazing land.
    NRCS will provide approximately $250 per acre to producers that enroll in the permanent water retirement program. The RRWCD will provide additional incentives between $600 and $1,500 per acre depending on the location of the well within the district boundary.
    Additional conservation practices may be appropriate on the converted acres. These practices will provide substantial water conservation and will help sustain the life of the aquifer. Recent research has suggested that in some cases, higher capacity wells can reduce water consumption by as much as 20 percent with little or no effect on the overall profitability of that particular well.

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