Imperial man proposes $6M river plan

By GINGER JENSEN
Hub Regional Correspondent

ALMA — For an investment of $6 million annually, it’s possible to comply with the Republican River Compact, keep Harlan County Lake full and not require irrigators to shut off groundwater wells.

That’s the vision of Steve Smith of Imperial, who explained his proposal Thursday to the Lower Republican Natural Resources District Board of Directors in Alma.

Smith is with WaterClaim, an organization of Republican Basin water users. He said the Republican River Basin, state of Nebraska and the federal government could share his plan’s $6 million annual price tag.

Contacted via phone, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources Director Roger Patterson confirmed the DNR and David Cookson of the Attorney General’s office are considering Smith’s proposal.

“It is a very complicated proposal and needs refinement, some of which Steve has already done,” Patterson said. “But we are looking seriously at the concept.”

Smith’s general idea is that Republican Basin NRDs would lease water from Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District irrigators in the Platte Basin. The water would be transferred and held in Harlan County Lake to fulfill requirements of the 1943 Republican River Compact lawsuit settlement.

He said costs would be paid with $2 million each from Republican Basin property taxes, state funds and federal funds.

Another requirement of the plan is that the federal Bureau of Reclamation grant the project storage rights in Harlan County Lake.

Enough water would be leased and imported from the Platte Basin irrigators to fulfill requirements of the lawsuit settlement agreement with Kansas, while also keeping Harlan County Lake full every year, according to Smith.

He said Republican Basin irrigators would have stable water policies, which would eliminate water-short-year triggers for allocations, and businesses would have more economic stability.

“This proposal would allow the basin to have time to come up with long-term water management solutions,” Smith said.

He acknowledged that the most difficult issue would be finding Platte Basin farmers willing to lease water at affordable prices. Smith said the Platte Basin has more than 1 million acres of land under irrigation.

CNPPID Public Relations Manager Tim Anderson of Holdrege told the Hub that Smith has talked with some Central officials about his proposal and might meet with the district’s board of directors.

Central officials haven’t reviewed Smith’s idea, Anderson said, “but obviously there are some huge hurdles, legal hurdles, Endangered Species Act issues, compensation issues.” Also, he said, CNPPID irrigators have water supply deficits of their own.

Smith told the LRNRD directors that even with the potential of retiring irrigated acres under federal incentive payment programs, including the Conservation Reserve Enhancement and Environment Quality Incentive programs, the Republican Basin still would be 20,000 acre-feet short of meeting compact compliance in water-short years.

He said farmers enrolled in CREP wouldn’t be eligible to participate in the transbasin leasing program.

“This plan could be used as a shock absorber so that quick response wells in the Republican River Basin won’t be shut off in 2007, if the weather pattern continues as it has been,” Smith said. “It would create a 30-mile river and create a sustainable system.”

The LRNRD directors also heard a proposal to treat older irrigation wells differently than new wells.

Gale Lush of northern Harlan County and Jeff Swanson of Atlanta said LB667, signed into law in 2001, gives Republican Basin NRDs the authority to make those distinctions.

They proposed that wells drilled prior to Jan. 1, 2001, be labeled “old” wells, while those drilled after Jan. 1, 2001, and used for irrigation in 2001 or 2003, be called “middle-age” wells. The definition of “new” wells would be those drilled after Jan. 1, 2001, and first used for irrigation in 2003 or 2004.

“This is a solution that would be fair to all wells,” Lush said. He and Swanson said old wells irrigate about 199,000 acres and new wells irrigate about 77,000 acres.

LRNRD Manager Mike Clements estimated there will be about 325,000 certified irrigated acres in the district as of Jan. 1, 2005, including about 276,000 groundwater-irrigated acres under water allocation.

Lush estimated that with the old/new well proposal, there could be 15 inches of water allocated to old wells and 8.8 inches for the new wells.

Swanson said he understands the problems the board is wrestling with. “It is a hell of a job you guys are trying to do,” he said. “I sure don’t envy your job, but I don’t believe I should have to share my water allocation on a really good farm with those who don’t have any water.”

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