CAMBRIDGE, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed two lawsuits filed against the Nebraska Natural Resources Department by Frenchman Cambridge District water users in southern Nebraska.

Judge James Doyle IV ruled last week that the arguments that the department failed to regulate groundwater did not include a cause of action necessary for the lawsuits to move forward.

The lawsuits sought damages for irrigation water lost in 2013 and 2014 when, the lawsuits say, the surface water irrigators’ allocations and rights to water were taken or misappropriated.

The lawsuits say the damages occurred because the department caused naturally occurring stream flows to be interrupted through diversion and groundwater pumping, and when state officials issued orders for water to be routed around Republican River basin reclamation projects.