Four southwest Nebraska natural resources districts plan to spend $83 million to take 15,000 acres of irrigated farmland in southern Lincoln County out of service.

The districts plan to redirect the groundwater that has been used to water those acres to increase flows in the Republican and Platte rivers.

The Lower Republican, Upper Republican, Middle Republican and Twin Platte natural resource districts approved the plan on Friday at a meeting in Alma.

The districts will spend about $5,500 per acre going to a single farm group that owns 10,000 acres in the Republican River basin and 5,000 acres in the Platte River basin. The four districts will share equally in the cost -- nearly $21 million each.