New Flag System Addresses Issue

Holt County (News Channel Nebraska) - It’s not a punishment, but a way to prevent an accident.

"We want to bring awareness to the fact that it is a public safety hazard to be watering the road," says Chairman for Holt County Board of Supervisors, Bill Tielke. " If somebody would happen to run down the road and have an accident caused by that, it does fall back on the landowner that is watering the road."

In early July, members of the Holt County Board of Supervisors voted to install a new flag warning system to address the issue of center pivot irrigation systems watering roadways. According to state statute, it’s illegal to divert water onto a public roadway prompting Holt  County officials to take action.

“We as a county, as a county board are going to do our part are going to do our part,” says Tielke. “It’s up to the farmers to be a good steward of the land and be a good steward of the roads and do their part and make sure their system’s not watering the roads.”

Officials say people will no longer have an excuse to say that they were not notified of committing a violation.

"It's going to be really hard for them to say, 'Well that was a freak deal and never has happened' because it's being documented,"says Tielke. "Even though we don't catch them, it's still being recorded and in the vent of an accident, there will; still be recordings of it."

The system, now in place, warns farmers if they committed a wrongdoing by placing a red flag at the main entrance of the field where the violation took place . A fee will be enforced if landowners cited for the violation choose not to fix it.

“It’s not supposed to be a punishment, as long as that's the law and it says that it needs to be enforced in Holt County to have a watering patrol, and we're hoping that the flag system will be a simple method that will take care of it."

With this system, an officer will write whether it's the first, second or third violation by writing a 1, 2, or 3 on a flag like this.

“We’re hoping the flags is a simple method and people will just take it as a warning and try to do a better job," says Tielke.