LINCOLN, NEB. ? Nebraska could be close to settling a lawsuit filed by Kansas over use of water from the Republican River basin.

Atty. Gen. Don Stenberg said he could not confirm that a settlement had been reached, but that an announcement on the lawsuit was expected next week.

“The governor and I are scheduling a news conference for Monday to discuss the Republican River situation,” Stenberg said Thursday.

Kansas Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall could not immediately be reached for comment.

Speaker of the Legislature in Nebraska, Sen. Curt Bromm of Wahoo, said an accord had been reached with Kansas that hopefully would result in dismissal of the lawsuit.

The agreement would increase monitoring of water use in Kansas and Nebraska, Bromm said.

Bromm said the agreement would end costly litigation and would not require Nebraska to pay a lump sum settlement.

Kansas filed its lawsuit in 1998, accusing Nebraska of allowing irrigators to divert more than their legal share of the river’s water.

Kansas argued that Nebraska breached the compact by allowing the proliferation and use of thousands of wells connected to the river and its tributaries along the state’s southern border.