U.S. Water News Online
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Continuing heavy irrigation in the Platte and Republican river basins could cost Nebraska more than $500 million, according to a new report.
The report was done by University of Nebraska agricultural economist Ray Supalla for the governor's Water Policy Task Force.
He estimated the potential cost for complying with a water use agreement the state signed in 1943 for the Republican River basin could cost as much as $334 million. The cost for complying with a new management plan for the Platte river, which is aimed at accommodating both endangered species and the growing number of cities and farmers tapping the stream, could reach $168 million.
His low-end estimate for both rivers was $110 million.
"The total state budget costs associated with reducing consumptive use by the required amounts in both the Platte and Republican basins depends primarily on the type of program which the state chooses to use to achieve the desired results," Supalla said.
The 1943 compact allocated the annual water supply in the Republican basin. Nebraska gets 49 percent, Kansas gets 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.
But Nebraska has been using more than its share.
Kansas filed a lawsuit in 1998, arguing 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.
Nebraska argued that groundwater use was not regulated by the compact, which also was signed by Colorado, because it was signed before deep-well irrigation was used in the river basin.
The U.S. Supreme Court later approved the settlement of the dispute.
Nebraska did not have to pay money damages as a result of the settlement, but it would be forced to if Kansas does not get its share of the water.
Earlier this year, members of the Nebraska Bostwick Irrigation District voted to sell their 2006 water allotment to the state -- which will send it down the Republican River to Kansas -- for about $2.5 million.
The Bostwick initiative was one of several efforts launched by the state to find enough water to balance the books with Kansas.
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