Irrigators in the three counties of the Upper Republican Natural Resources
District (URNRD) will have access to real-time rainfall data throughout the district as early as next week.
    The rainfall data can be used to help farmers manage the amount of water they apply as well as the timing of that irrigation.
    The URNRD oversees the maintenance and operation of 15 groundwater monitoring wells spread throughout the district.
    As part of the monitoring, the NRD has installed real-time data collection of groundwater levels in 10 of those wells. The five other wells will also be equipped in the near future.
    To compliment that data, the NRD has installed solar-powered rain buckets at nine of the 15 well sites. Eventually all of the well sites will be equipped with the rain buckets.
    In addition, three full-blown, solar-powered real-time weather collection stations will be installed in the district.
 

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