Big Plains Water SSD approves permanent change and segregation of water rights to preserve municipal supply

The Big Plains Water Special Service District on March 12, 2025, voted to approve an application to permanently change and segregate water rights and ratified the chairman's signature, a move officials said is intended to prevent forfeiture of municipal water rights and to add points of diversion nearer to active wells.

Board members said the action covers a package of previously overlooked water rights that were not placed into the municipality and therefore risked forfeiture under the statute requiring periodic proof of use. The application discussed at the meeting included an initial parcel described in the record as one acre-foot, then expanded to include additional acre-feet grouped for the change and segregation process. The board approved the motion and recorded an aye…