Click the link to read the article on the Progressive Farmer website (Chris Clayton). Here’s an excerpt:
[Governor Pete] Ricketts signed legislation authorizing a $500 million canal meant to counter what Nebraska sees as attempts in Colorado to potentially hold back future water flows on the South Platte River. Nebraska will invoke a nearly 100-year-old clause in a water compact between the two states to dig out what is commonly called the Perkins County Canal. Nebraska lawmakers last week passed the bill, LB 1015, to back the canal project despite some concerns about its costs and possible legal battles ahead.
“Today, we enacted two key laws to strengthen Nebraska’s water resources,” Ricketts said in signing the bill. “LB 1015 helps protect the South Platte River water we depend on for drinking water, agricultural irrigation, and to nourish our natural environment.”
Ricketts also signed a separate bill, LB 1023, that will create a 3,600-acre lake in eastern Nebraska, as well as fund some other recreational projects.Ricketts began championing the Perkins County Canal early in the year, cautioning against plans for water projects in Colorado totaling nearly $10 billion. Ricketts told lawmakers at a hearing in February, “Colorado is looking to take our water.” Ricketts said the canal is also a “hedge against drought” in western Nebraska as well.
Nebraska has a compact with Colorado that guarantees the state of Nebraska minimum flows of South Platte River water throughout the year…
Kent Miller, general manger of the Twin Platte Natural Resources District out of North Platte, Neb., told DTN he’s been urging Nebraska leaders for the last 25 years to invoke a clause in the South Platt River Compact to build the canal…
Nebraska officials said Monday it would likely take close to a decade before the Perkins County Canal can be built.