Fallon County commissioners approve submission of DNRC water-right pre‑application for Lakeview golf course irrigation

Fallon County commissioners voted unanimously to approve submitting a Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) pre‑application (Form 600) and to pay the $500 application fee for the Lakeview Country Club reclaimed‑water irrigation proposal.

Shannon Angle, who presented the county’s responses, said DNRC requested six follow‑up items including maps showing the project acres, quarter‑section acreages, inclusion of the North Golf Course Pond, emergency‑overflow plans and sage‑grouse conservation documentation. "80.45 acre‑feet is what we requested on our permit application," Angle said, describing the amount of water the county is claiming as available after evaporation and the calculations the team used from 2023 pump records.

The packet included two map views: a large overview from Lagoon Cell 3 to the golf course with topographic detail, and a zoomed map showing quarter‑quarter sections for the irrigated acres. Angle told commissioners the county had split the irrigated acreage into quarter‑quarter sections (listed in the application as 7 acres in the NW of NE, 17 acres in the SW of NE and 4.9 acres in the SE of NE) and that pump run totals supplied by the city’s lift station records were used to substantiate available water.

Angle also described permit compliance items DNRC flagged at the pre‑application meeting: a sage‑grouse conservation review (county received a letter dated Jan. 10), clarification of the type and source of water (DNRC’s pre‑application form had initially labeled some waters as Sandstone Creek rather than the city’s Fox Hills Aquifer source), and a required on/off monitoring system that will shut irrigation when wind or rain thresholds are met. Angle said the irrigation system will be integrated with the golf course Toro controllers and that the shutdown threshold being used in vendor discussions is a 25‑mile‑per‑hour wind cutoff.

Commissioners asked a few clarifying questions about the maps and monitoring; Angle said she would finalize the responses in a letter to DNRC this week and that she had already prepared the electronic appendices needed by the operator. When no further questions were raised, the commission moved and approved submitting the completed pre‑application package and paying the application fee so the county could proceed with the formal DNRC filing.

Next steps Angle outlined were: (1) finalize and send the response letter to DNRC (Matt Wade at DNRC was the contact listed), (2) deliver the electronic appendices and Excel attachments to the county’s golf‑course operator, and (3) implement the required wind/rain monitoring hardware and controller integration described in the permit response.

The commission did not approve any construction or operational work today; the action was limited to submitting the DNRC pre‑application materials and fee.