Number of new Nebraska irrigation wells surges

LINCOLN – The number of new irrigation wells registered in drought-stricken Nebraska last year surged past 1,000 for the first time in seven years, according to preliminary state figures.

The Department of Natural Resources reported earlier this week that the 1,105 new wells were the most registered with the state since 2005 and more than 350 more than registered in 2011.

Why the jump?

“It’s a combination of drought and record commodity prices,” Dave Aiken said Thursday. The agriculture and water law specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln told the Lincoln Journal Star that if corn we...