Utilities Section
Newsletter League of Nebraska Municipalities
June 2025
Drought based water restrictions By Lash Chaffin, Utilities Section Director According to the U.S. Drought Monitor published by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Nebraska is currently in drought conditions. It is imperative that Nebraska municipal water systems stay ahead of this issue. Nebraska water law is not really designed to make quick changes in water use. For the most part, the system is court based and could take weeks or months for a municipal water system to get judicial relief. So, if your municipality does not have a drought plan, they need to develop one immediately. Know the staff at the local Natural Resources District and communicate on a regular basis. The State of Nebraska is divided into 23 Natural Resources Districts (NRDs). These districts have some authority over groundwater use. Some of their legal tools might be helpful to a municipality in a drought and some of their legal tools might not be helpful in a drought. But, in any event, now is the time to begin communication with the Natural Resources District and let them know exactly how your system works, why you prefer to use certain wells, unusual customer and system needs, and what type of monitoring you are conducting and intend to conduct. If you do not know which NRD you are in, please refer to the following 206 S 13th Street, Suite 800 Lincoln, NE 68508 (402) 476-2829 Fax (402) 476-7052
website – http://nrdnet.org/find-yournrd.php. Also, remember that your wells might be in a different NRD than your distribution system. Or, your wells might even be in multiple NRDs. Have in Place an Emergency Water Restriction Plan. Nebraska law clearly allows municipalities to have reasonable rules and regulations with respect to the municipal water system. For Cities of the First Class (generally population 5,001 to 100,000 population) Neb. Rev. Stat. 16-679 provides: The mayor and council shall have power to require every individual or private corporation operating such works or plants, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, to furnish any person applying therefor, along the line of its pipes, mains, wires or other conduits, with gas, water, power, light or heat, and to supply said city with water for fire protection, and with gas, water, power, light or heat, for other necessary public or private purposes; to regulate and fix the rents or rates of water, power, gas, electric light or heat; and to regulate and fix the charges for water meters, power meters, gas meters, electric light or heat meters, or other device or means necessary for determining the consumption of water, power, gas, electric light or heat. These powers shall not be
abridged by ordinance, resolution or contract. For cities of the second class (generally population 801 to 5,000) and villages (generally population 800 or less) Neb. Rev. Stat. 17-537 provides: The council or board of trustees of such cities and villages shall have power to make and enforce all needful rules and regulations in the construction, use, and management of such waterworks, mains, portion or extension of any system of waterworks or water supply and for the use of the water therefrom. Lincoln and the Metropolitan Utilities District have similar powers. A municipality needs to be able to quickly utilize these powers if the drought continues and the municipal water supply is threatened. It is advisable to enact an ordinance now so that contingency plans can be put in place quickly if needed. Sample ordinance language is provided later in this article. Develop Legal Contracts with Nearby Irrigators. Rather than let the court system attempt to sort out your legal rights to water, it might be worth considering offering Continued on page 2 Lash Chaffin Utilities Section Director Jackson Sash Utilities Field Representative