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<br />, <br />ClllJ .; <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />This report was prepared to provide policy <br />decision-makers with information relevant to the <br />law of groundwater properly rights and how <br />existing rights might be modified or clarified by <br />legislation_ <br />Groundwater use in Nebraska has exploded <br />over the last two decades causing serious water <br />table declines in some areas. It has become clear <br />that groundwater supplies in Nebraska are not <br />inexhaustible. In consequence, numerous <br />strategies for regulating groundwater use and <br />managing groundwater supplies have been <br />suggested. The feasibility. and ultimate success. <br />of any groundwater management scheme. how- <br />ever, depends If) large measure on the under- <br />lYing set of groundwater property rights_ The <br />groundwater property rights system determines <br />the constitutional parameters of permissible <br />groundwater use regulation. The groundwater <br />property rights system also determines how the <br />benefits of groundwater supplies are 10 be <br />shared in those areas where no regulations are in <br />effect. The nature of the groundwater property <br />rights system is. thus, a very important element of <br />the state's groundwater policy. <br />A good deal of misunderstanding currently <br />surrounds groundwater property rights law, In <br />part. this is because the limited number of <br />Nebraska Supreme Court pronouncements on <br />the subject have not always been consistent. In <br />large part. however, the misunderstanding of <br />Nebraska law can be attributed indirectly to the <br />abundance of the state's groundwater supplies. <br />Only recently have conflicts occurred which <br />make it clear that a landowner's right to capture <br />groundwater is not unlimited. <br />Chapter One of this report summarizes <br />current Nebraska law by tracing the develop- <br />ment of the so-called"Nebraska Rule 01 Reason- <br />able Use" and by discussing relevant Nebraska <br />statutes. Chapter Two analyzes the practical <br />effects of existing law. with speCial emphasis on <br />the limits of current law as a means of protecting <br />public or private rights to groundwater use. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />Chapter Three responds 10 the analysis set <br />forth in the first two chapters by developing <br />thlfteen alternativE's tor legIslative consider- <br />ation. Each alternative is described in detail and <br />indications of how it could be enacted are pro' <br />vlded_ Where appropriate. reference is made to <br />the law of other states. In particular. short case <br />studIes havt'l been includedtorsomealternatives <br />to alert the reader to states that have extensive <br />experience legislating under particular ground- <br />water property rights systems. Generally, the <br />case studies also demonstrate the limitations of <br />the several alternatives, <br />Th~ external impacts of adopting each altern- <br />ative also are addressed in Chapter Three. In- <br />cluded are the physical-hydrologic and environ- <br />mental impacts and the socio-economic impacts <br />of adopting each alternative. The degree of detail <br />possible in these impacts analyses varies greatly <br />from alternative to alternative. with some having <br />fairly apparent impacts and others having im- <br />pacts that are almost impossible to assess. <br />The tinal chapter. Chapter Four. is devoted to <br />explaining the relationship between this report <br />and all other policy issue reports produced or to <br />be produced as part of the Stale Water Planning <br />and Review Process. Relationships are develop- <br />ed for many of the studies being conducted. <br />particularly the March, 1982 Ground Water <br />Reservoir Management Study approved by the <br />Commission. The value of Chapter Four to the <br />decision-maker is to alert him or her to how other <br />issues can be affected by decisions regarding <br />property rights in groundwater. <br /> <br />III <br />