BEAVER CITY, Neb. (AP) — Attorneys for Nebraska and a group of southwest Nebraska irrigators suing the state will spar in court next week over a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

A hearing will be held Wednesday in Furnas County District Court on a motion by the state to dismiss the lawsuit.

Four Nebraska farmers filed the suit in August, demanding that the state compensate them for irrigation water that was diverted away from their crops to comply with the Republican River Compact.

The farmers allege in the lawsuit that their yields were lower in 2013 because they were denied access to water that should have been stored in nearby dams and canals. Nebraska released the water downstream to Kansas to meet its obligations under the 1943 compact.