#Nebraska wants to redirect #water out of #Colorado, but that may be easier said than done — KUNC

Students in Sam Ng’s Field Observation of Severe Weather class hit the road every spring to observe storm structures, like this mesocyclone in Imperial, Nebraska. Photo by Sam Ng via Metropolitan State University of Denver

From KUNC (Alex Hager):

As Colorado and other interested parties wait for details, at least one expert questioned the very feasibility of Nebraska’s proposal. Jim Yahn is the former Colorado Water Conservation Board director for the South Platte basin, and currently manages the North Sterling and Pruitt reservoirs in northeastern Colorado.

“It felt more like a shot across the bow,” Yahn said. “But I was trying to understand why they would do a shot across the bow. (Ricketts) made a couple of comments in his announcement, that I was wondering whether he fully understood the river in our area.”

Yahn took issue with the claim that Colorado could take 90% of the water headed for Nebraska.

“We can’t capture that,” he said. “There’s just no way.”

Yahn, who has managed water in the area for more than three decades, said diverting the proposed amount of water could present a formidable set of logistical hurdles, and Nebraska might find that “even though they have the right to 500 cubic feet per second from October 15th to April 1st, that water is not there under the 1921 water right that they had.”

Nebraska Rivers Shown on the Map: Beaver Creek, Big Blue River, Calamus River, Dismal River, Elkhorn River, Frenchman Creek, Little Blue River, Lodgepole Creek, Logan Creek, Loup River, Medicine Creek, Middle Loup River, Missouri River, Niobrara River, North Fork Big Nemaha River, North Loup River, North Platte River, Platte River, Republican River, Shell Creek, South Loup River, South Platte River, White River and Wood River. Nebraska Lakes Shown on the Map: Harlan County Lake, Hugh Butler Lake, Lake McConaughy, Lewis and Clark Lake and Merritt Reservoir. Map credit: Geology.com

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