VIDALIA — Sometimes the time it takes to get the necessary permits is the difference between keeping and losing a crop.

A bill that District 21 Rep. Andy Anders has filed aims to shorten the length of time that it takes for a farmer to drill a new well during drought.

“Right now, it is a real time delay,” Anders said. “If somebody’s well goes out the period takes 30 days or longer to have all the permits to get the well.”

Drought relief wells are meant to for temporary and not continuous use. Currently, drilling a drought relief well is allowed when water resources are exhausted.

But Anders’ amendment would specifically strike language that says the well can be dug “upon a determination that sufficient water resources are not otherwise available.”

The requirement that the commissioner of conservation issue an order to fix the allowable production, spacing and depth for emergency wells in an order would also be stricken.

In the existing law, the order is to fix the production from the emergency wells, “in such a way that the combined production of groundwater from such wells will not have long-term adverse effects on the aquifer.”

Those aren’t bad requirements, but the delay can be devastating, Anders said.

“(The amendment) speeds up the process of getting a well drilled so you don’t lose a crop waiting to get the permits,” he said.

The amendment would not otherwise change current groundwater conservation law.