46-2,127.

District or company; transfer of appropriation for agricultural purposes; when.

After obtaining approval of an application for transfer and map pursuant to sections 46-2,122 to 46-2,126, the board of directors of any irrigation district, reclamation district, public power and irrigation district, rural water district, or mutual irrigation or canal company may transfer an appropriation of water distributed for agricultural purposes from a tract or tracts of land within the district or served by the company to another tract or tracts of land within the boundaries of the district or served by the company if:

(1) The district or company finds that the transferring tract of land has received and had water, delivered by the district or company pursuant to a valid appropriation, beneficially applied in at least one of the preceding five consecutive years or that there has been sufficient cause for nonuse in the same manner as provided in section 46-229.04;

(2) The owner of the land to which the water appropriation is attached consents in writing to the transfer of the appropriation from his or her tract of land;

(3) The water appropriation, or portion thereof, proposed to be transferred has not been transferred by the board of directors of the district or company in the previous four years;

(4) The water allotment on the receiving tract of land will not exceed the amount that can be beneficially used for the purposes for which the appropriation was made and will not exceed the least amount of water that experience may indicate is necessary, in the exercise of good husbandry, for the production of crops; and

(5) After the transfer, the aggregate water use within the district or company will not exceed the aggregate water appropriation held by the district or company for the benefit of owners of land to which the water appropriations are attached.