U.S. Water News Online
LINCOLN -- The Ogallala Aquifer could be tapped to fill the state's largest reservoir, Lake McConaughy, and provide water to the Platte and Republican river basins, a southwest Nebraska irrigation group suggests.
Steve Smith of Imperial, founder and director of WaterClaim, which includes about 100 irrigators and related businesses, says tapping the aquifer would solve many of the state's major water issues.
The idea is meeting some resistance. The aquifer covers parts of eight states, but about two-thirds of its water is under Nebraska. There is concern that tapping the Ogallala would harm one of the world's largest freshwater aquifer systems in the world.
"It's a pretty fragile aquifer," said Ron Cacek, general manager of the North Platte Natural Resources District, where the wells would be drilled.
Tim Anderson of the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District said tapping the Ogallala raises "red flags."
Anderson said it's unknown how depleting the aquifer would affect the Loup River system and other Sandhills rivers fed by the aquifer.
But Smith, in a report, said his $265 million project would require environmentally friendly water transfers. Careful well placement would help protect the ecology of lakes potentially harmed by aquifer pumping, he said.
Each of the 550 wells would pump 1,000 gallons per minute, 200 days a year, producing about 450,000 acre feet of water that could be diverted annually, according to the report.
Smith said the water could keep Lake McConaughy full every year. McConaughy is now at 36 percent capacity because of drought.
The proposal, Smith said, also would provide more flows to the Platte River, enhancing wildlife habitat downstream; help Nebraska meet its obligations to provide water to Kansas; and address aquifer declines in Chase County and other parts of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District.
The water would be pumped from wells in the North Platte Natural Resources District. Some 27 miles of pipeline and 100 miles of canals would divert the water -- 61 percent of it into the North Platte River above Lake McConaughy, 31 percent to the Republican River basin.
"I see Nebraska having two choices: We can either shut down irrigation across the state or find a way to manage our water better," Smith said.
Smith's plan would call for the federal government to pay half the project's $265 million estimate. Beneficiaries of the water would pay the rest, he said.
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