Flood Flows Don't Count
The people who negotiated the agreement with Kansas decided that flood water should not count as credit towards Nebraska's compliance with the Republican River Compact. The definition of flood flows is given below.
1. Flood Flows: If in any calendar year there are five consecutive months in
which the total actual stream flow1 at the Hardy gage is greater than 325,000 Acrefeet,
or any two consecutive months in which the total actual stream flow is greater
than 200,000 Acre-feet, the annual flow in excess of 400,000 Acre-feet at the Hardy
gage will be considered to be Flood Flows that will be subtracted from the Virgin
Water Supply to calculate the Computed Water Supply, and Allocations. The Flood
Flow in excess of 400,000 Acre-feet at the Hardy gage will be subtracted from the
Virgin Water Supply of the Main Stem to compute the Computed Water Supply
unless the Annual Gaged Flows from a Sub-basin were in excess of the flows
shown for that Sub-basin in Attachment 1. These excess Sub-basin flows shall be
considered to be Sub-basin Flood Flows.
If there are Sub-basin Flood Flows, the total of all Sub-basin Flood Flows shall be
compared to the amount of Flood Flows at the Hardy gage. If the sum of the Subbasin
Flood Flows are in excess of the Flood Flow at the Hardy gage, the flows to
be deducted from each Sub-basin shall be the product of the Flood Flows for each
Sub-basin times the ratio of the Flood Flows at the Hardy gage divided by the sum
of the Flood Flows of the Sub-basin gages. If the sum of the Sub-basin Flood Flows
is less than the Flood Flow at the Hardy gage, the entire amount of each Sub-basin
Flood Flow shall be deducted from the Virgin Water Supply to compute the
Computed Water Supply of that Sub-basin for that year. The remainder of the Flood
Flows will be subtracted from the flows of the Main Stem.