Some northeast Nebraska farmers are facing new irrigation rules.

The rules were adopted Thursday night by the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District Board at its meeting in Norfolk. The district includes parts of Madison, Pierce and Wayne counties.

The rules bar expansion of irrigation to new areas as well as bar offseason irrigation. There are irrigation educational requirements, and irrigators must install groundwater water monitors.

Some of the irrigators will have annual limits on how much water they can pump.

The board had received dozens of complaints this past summer from people who said their domestic wells had gone dry on land adjacent to irrigated land.

New or replacement domestic wells also must be drilled to an approved depth.