WaterClaim testimony regarding the Cooperative Agreement

Lincoln, NE

October 10, 2006

 

The Cooperative Agreement seeks to return the river to the way it used to be.  Anyone who has looked at the Platte River Recovery Implementation Plan has seen the graphs that show how much more the river used to flow as compared to what it does now. 

WaterClaim actually went back to the source documents and pulled the records on which everything is based.  Yes, the river flow changed; it changed in 1931. 

Something west of North Platte changed.  So, we looked at the flow data for the stream gage just below Guernsey, WY and compared it to the North Platte gage.

The reduction in flow happened to the west of Guernsey.  Did the climate in the Rocky Mountains change?  No.  The change in the river flow happened because large reservoirs were built on the North Platte in Wyoming. 

If you want to return the river to the way it used to flow, you have to change how the dams in Wyoming are operated and how surface irrigation diverts water.  The North Platte river is diverted onto more than 1,000,000 acres of ground. Most of these diversions were created before 1930.

Instead of addressing the cause of the change in the river, the Cooperative Agreement attempts to supplement the river far downstream with water obtained from another source – another group of irrigators.  If the Cooperative Agreement is signed, it will result in the largest water transfer from one group to another ever made in Nebraska history.

The Cooperative Agreement also proposes to tap the mound created by the Central Nebraska Public Power Irrigation District canals in central Nebraska.  If Nebraska permits this new use of water, then it opens the door for others groups to also access this resource.  This is something most downstream users have strongly opposed for many years.  A door is opened, if this is allowed.

WaterClaim has several concerns with the Cooperative Agreement as now proposed:

  1. It does not address the cause of the change in the river.  Instead, it supplements the river with Nebraska water.
  2. It potentially opens the door to anyone who wants to access the Mound in central Nebraska.
  3. It involves Federal agencies in controlling groundwater management in Nebraska.
  4. It does not address how post-1997 irrigated acres will be dealt with and who will pay for dealing with the effects of over 500,000 new acres.

WaterClaim encourages the Governor to answer these questions before signing the agreement.