46-609. Irrigation water wells; spacing; requirements; exceptions; new use of well; registration modification; approval.

(1) Except as otherwise provided by this section or section 46-610, no irrigation water well shall be constructed upon any land in this state within six hundred feet of any registered irrigation water well and no existing nonirrigation water well within six hundred feet of any registered irrigation water well shall be used for irrigation purposes. Such spacing requirement shall not apply to (a) any water well used to irrigate two acres or less or (b) any replacement irrigation water well if it is constructed within fifty feet of the irrigation water well being replaced and if the water well being replaced was constructed prior to September 20, 1957, and is less than six hundred feet from a registered irrigation water well.

(2) The spacing protection of subsection (1) of this section shall apply to an unregistered water well for a period of sixty days after completion of such water well.

(3) No person shall use a water well for purposes other than its registered purpose until the water well registration has been changed to the intended new use, except that a person may use a water well registered for purposes other than its intended purpose for use for livestock, monitoring, observation, or any other nonconsumptive or de minimis use approved by the applicable natural resources district. The change to a new use shall be made by filing a water well registration modification with the Department of Natural Resources and shall be approved only if the water well is in conformity with subsection (1) of this section and with section 46-651.

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